Individualism and Collectivism

Introduction

Imagine you are planning to go out to the movies with a group of friends. One person in your group has no money but does have a gift pass for the theatre. Many of your friends in the group want to see, Dungeons & Dragons a just-released blockbuster, but passes are not accepted for that film. If Dungeons & Dragons is chosen by the group, the person with the movie pass will not be able to see it.

What course of action should be taken? Should everyone see a less popular film so that the friend with the gift pass can go to the movies? Should the person with the gift pass be left to see another film on their own? Should everyone chip in to pay the admission to Dungeons & Dragons for a broke friend?

In the example above, a decision would have to be made among a group of friends, but decisions like these are similar to ones also faced on a societal level. Ideologies typically have some approach for deciding how to balance the needs and wants of individuals with the needs and wants of society as a whole. In this lesson, you will be introduced to some dominant ideologies and begin to explore the approaches each takes to this issue.

In this lesson, you will answer the question: How do different ideologies balance the needs of the individual with the needs of the group?

Individualism

Individualism is the idea that the individual’s life belongs to him and that he has an inalienable right to live it as he sees fit, to act on his judgment, to keep and use the product of his effort, and to pursue the values of his choosing.

When we look out at the world and see people, we see separate, distinct individuals. The individuals may be in groups (say, on a soccer team or a classroom), but the indivisible beings we see are individual people. Each has his own body, his mind, and his own life. Groups, insofar as they exist, are nothing more than individuals who have come together to interact for some purpose.

• Individual Rights and Freedoms: ie. freedom of religion, freedom of association, and the right to life, liberty, and the security of the person. These rights and freedoms can have negative consequences in some cases, therefore, some liberal democracies attempt to balance the rights of one individual against the rights of other individuals, the rights of groups, and the needs and goals of society. 
• Rule of Law: all people are equal before the law; those clearly defined rules, rather than the arbitrary power of an individual or group in a position of authority. 
  • Would you want to live in a society in which certain members were above the law? Why or why not?
  • Are there instances in our society where the rule of law seems to be ignored?
• Private Property: includes real estate, other physical possessions, and intellectual property. This concept is contradicted by the ideology of First Nations, Metis, and Inuit peoples who believe no one owns the land.
• Economic Freedom: the personal freedom to buy what you want and to sell your labour, idea, or product to whomever you want also known as free markets.  
• Self-Interest: everything a person does is for their gain
• Competition:  because other self-interested people are competing in the marketplace, my self-interest is held in check. Each individual will want to produce a better, cheaper, or more convenient good than the next person to earn the money of the buyer. Raising costs, creating poor quality, etc. will only deter people from purchasing which will hurt your self-interest and eliminate competition. 

Collectivism

Collectivism is the idea that the individual’s life belongs not to him but to the group or society of which he is merely a part, that he has no rights, and that he must sacrifice his values and goals for the group’s “greater good.” According to collectivism, the group or society is the basic unit of moral concern, and the individual is of value only insofar as he serves the group.

As one advocate of this idea puts it: “Man has no rights except those which society permits him to enjoy. From the day of his birth until the day of his death society allows him to enjoy certain so-called rights and deprives him of others; not . . . because society desires especially to favour or oppress the individual, but because its preservation, welfare, and happiness are the prime considerations.” In individualistic cultures, people are considered "good" if they are strong, self-reliant, assertive, and independent. This contrasts with collectivist cultures where characteristics like being self-sacrificing, dependable, generous, and helpful to others are of greater importance.

• Economic Equality: depending on the person or ideology, this may include the greater the income, the more taxes paid; all people earn equal wages for work of similar value; guaranteed annual income; all people share in the wealth of the country or world; people own the means of production (ie. factories); everything is free and there is no private property. 
• Cooperation: individuals are unique and have different ideas about how to do things. Cooperation is the means through which members achieve their common goals. May involve designating roles, following certain protocols for speaking, or following guidelines for decision-making. 
• Public Property: the state or community owns anything not privately owned by individuals to manage in the best interests of the community. These properties are often maintained with public money raised through taxation. 
• Collective Interests: a set of interests that members of a group have in common. While an individual may have an interest, it is better to address that interest by making it a common interest that the group can address. (ie. Labour unions can fight for better working conditions, higher pay, etc. for all members)
• Collective Responsibility: holding the whole group responsible for the actions of individuals (or individual groups). 
• Adherence to Collective Norms: standards are placed on their members as a condition of membership in the group. These may include conduct, values, or appearance which are often voluntary but seen as binding. 

Balancing Individual Goals and the Common Good

The belief in individualism is a view that is strongly held by some and criticized by others. The degree to which a person’s actions and decisions are motivated by self-interest depends, in part, on whether a person lives in a collectivist, pluralistic, or individualistic society.

A balance scale implies that one side must be weighed against the other. If all of the weight is placed on one side of the scale, the balance scale will tip. In society, there needs to be balance so that there can be order and stability. It is necessary for society and its citizens to find some way of balancing the goals of individuals with the needs of society. Which of the scales in the graphic represents how you see the best balance between the role of the individual and the role of society?

It would be unrealistic to think that this is a choice that involves selecting one set of goals and ignoring the other set of goals. Rather, modern societies have elements of individualism and elements of collectivism. Each society and its citizens must make choices about what the right balance should be.

Because people support different views of human nature, they are eager for society to move in a direction that is acceptable to them. Individualists hope to see society place greater emphasis on self-reliance. Individualists wish to see the role of government limited. On the other hand, collectivists want a greater role played by the government to serve the needs of all people in society.

This disagreement over what direction society should take can lead to some specific questions. These questions are known as issues. You can think of an issue as a question that asks about the direction society should take on a certain matter. Individualists and collectivists would disagree on how to address an issue. Because their ideologies are different, their responses to issues are different.

Summary

In this lesson, you learned that there are two main approaches to organizing societies, individualism, and collectivism. Each approach has a series of core values that relate to how people see their place in society. Individualists value independence, personal freedom, self-reliance, and self-interest. Collectivists value teamwork, interdependence, equality, and collective responsibility.

While no real-world society is completely collectivist or completely individualist, some of the ideologies dominant in the last century have incorporated collectivist or individualist values as guiding principles. Communism, which holds that all property should be owned by the state and all people should work for the state, represents an extreme interpretation of collectivism. Fascism takes an extreme collectivist approach to a political organization but rejects collectivist notions of social equality. Fascism also adheres to some individualist values in the area of economics. Democratic capitalism, in its truest form, strongly advocates both individual political freedom and economic freedom. Democratic socialists, while supporting individualist values in terms of political freedom, incorporate collectivist values into their economic policies.

You now have a basic understanding of collectivist and individualist value systems and how they have been integrated into various ideologies. As you work through the course, you will further your understanding of how these ideologies have originated and how they have evolved.