Analysis Of Ideologies Of A Collectivist
A collectivist believes that the society’s needs are above individuals needs, decisions in a collective society are made based upon the group's best interest and what is most beneficial to the society rather than each individual. The first modern idea of collectivism was best displayed in “du contract social” in 1762 by Jean-Jacques Rousseau as he stated, “individual finds his true being and freedom in submission to the general will of the community”. The three most important characteristics of a collectivist are cooperation, economic equality, and collective interest.
Cooperation encourages building a stronger community by being open to new viewpoints and ideologies. Robert Owen, an English socialist founded the co-operative movement in 1844. The movement encouraged humans to work together to accomplish a common goal in the workplace and society. Having multiple viewpoints on an issue will give collectivists a new idea on a topic which can help to make a better-informed decision for the community's best interest. Whereas an individualist society bases their values on each individual rather than the group which leads to competition. The issue with an individualist society is that the group is constantly competing with each other, in the workplace, in school and ultimately in life, competition in society creates conflict.
Economic equality expresses the ideologies that everyone is paid the same. The wealth in a collectivist society is shared. Adam Smith, a Scottish economist and philosopher observed how the society was corrupt due to not having economic equality. Adam Smith spoke of how humans praise the rich and neglect the poor, which is why economic equality is needed. Economic equality will make it so every human is the same without an economic gap between the rich and poor. The poor will suffer the most from income inequality. With economic equality every person works for their money, Poor people do not want to be poor nor deserve to be poor as for the rich do not always work for their wealth with economic equality everyone has a chance at equal income and equal wealth.
A collectivist strongly believes in collective interest, this characteristic is evolved around the idea of putting the group's interests before oneself. If you have a goal or dream you want to pursue as a career but it will not benefit the collective society than that goal or dream will be a hobby or side job. In a collectivist society, it is all about what is going to benefit the group as a whole. Most of the time a collective community has the same ideologies and values making decisions easier as the group will most likely agree on the choice.
Cooperation, economic equality and collective interest are the three most critical characteristics to create a strong collectivist society.
