Collectivism is a value that is characterized by emphasis on cohesiveness among individuals and prioritization of the group over the self. Individuals or groups that subscribe to a collectivist worldview tend to find common values and goals as particularly salient[1] and demonstrate greater orientation toward in-group than toward out-group.[2] The term "in-group" is thought to be more diffusely defined for collectivist individuals to include societal units ranging from the nuclear family to a religious or racial/ethnic group.[3][4]

Origins and historical perspectives

The German sociologist Ferdinand Tönnies described an early model of collectivism and individualism using the terms Gemeinschaft (community) and Gesellschaft (society).[5] Gemeinschaft relationships, in which communalism is prioritized, were thought to be characteristic of small, rural village communities. An anthropologist, Redfield (1941) echoed this notion in work contrasting folk society with urban society.[6]

Max Weber (1930) contrasted collectivism and individualism through the lens of religion, believing that Protestants were more individualistic and self-reliant compared to Catholics, who endorsed hierarchical, interdependent relationships among people.[7] Geert Hofstede (1980) was highly influential in ushering in an era of cross-cultural research making comparisons along the dimension of collectivism versus individualism. Hofstede conceptualized collectivism and individualism as part of a single continuum, with each cultural construct representing an opposite pole. The author characterized individuals that endorsed a high degree of collectivism as being embedded in their social contexts and prioritizing communal goals over individual goals.[8]

Hofstede insights describes collectivism as: "Collectivism, represents a preference for a tightly-knit framework in society in which individuals can expect their relatives or members of a particular ingroup to look after them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty."[9]

Marxism–Leninism

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Main article: New Soviet man

Collectivism was an important part of Marxist–Leninist ideology in the Soviet Union, where it played a key part in forming the New Soviet man, willingly sacrificing his or her life for the good of the collective. Terms such as "collective" and "the masses" were frequently used in the official language and praised in agitprop literature, for example by Vladimir Mayakovsky (Who needs a "1") and Bertolt Brecht (The Decision, Man Equals Man).[10][11]

Anarcho-collectivism

Main article: Anarcho-collectivism

Anarcho-collectivism deals with collectivism in a decentralized anarchistic system, in which people are paid off their surplus labor. Collectivist anarchism is contrasted with anarcho-communism, where wages would be abolished and where individuals would take freely from a storehouse of goods "to each according to his need". It is most commonly associated with Mikhail Bakunin, the anti-authoritarian sections of the International Workingmen's Association and the early Spanish anarchist movement.[12][13][14][15][16]

Corporatism

Main article: Corporatism

Corporatism is sometimes seen as an ideology which relies on collectivist co-operation as one of its central components. The term is derived from the Latin corpus, or "human body", which in this case means that society should function like unto a body, through the means of loyalty to an individual's in-group or corpus. Collective bargaining is one example of corporatist economic principles.[17] Often, state-sanctioned bargaining is considered collectivist.[18]

Terminology and measurement

The construct of collectivism is represented in empirical literature under several different names. Most commonly, the term interdependent self-construal is used.[19] Other phrases used to describe the concept of collectivism-individualism include allocentrism-idiocentrism,[20] collective-private self,[21] as well as subtypes of collectivism-individualism (meaning, vertical and horizontal subtypes).[22] Inconsistent terminology is thought to account for some of the difficulty in effectively synthesizing the empirical literature on collectivism.[23]

See also

References

  1. ^ Schwartz, S. H. (1990). "Individualism–collectivism: Critique and proposed refinements". Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. 21 (2): 139–157. doi:10.1177/0022022190212001. S2CID 146606056.
  2. ^ Oyserman, D. (1993). "The lens of personhood: Viewing the self, others, and conflict in a multicultural society". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 65 (5): 993–1009. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.65.5.993. hdl:2027.42/89930.
  3. ^ Hui, C. H. (1988). "Measurement of individualism–collectivism". Journal of Research in Personality. 22: 17–36. doi:10.1016/0092-6566(88)90022-0.
  4. ^ Triandis, H. C. (1995). Individualism and Collectivism. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
  5. ^ F. Tönnies (1957). Community and association. Harper Torchbooks.
  6. ^ Redfield, Robert (1941). The folk culture of Yucatán. University of Chicago Press.
  7. ^ M. Weber (1930). The Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism. New York: Routledge.
  8. ^ Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture's consequences. Beverly Hills: Sage.
  9. ^ Insights, Hofstede. "National Culture". hi.hofstede-insights.com. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  10. ^ Overy, Richard (2004). The Dictators: Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia. pp. 301. ISBN 978-0-393-02030-4.
  11. ^ Horn, Eva (2006). "Actors/Agents: Bertolt Brecht and the Politics of Secrecy". Grey Room. 24: 38–55. doi:10.1162/grey.2006.1.24.38. S2CID 57572547.
  12. ^ Blonna, Alex (1977). Marxism and Anarchist Collectivism in the International Workingman's Association, 1864-1872. Blonna.
  13. ^ Esenwein, George Richard (1989). Anarchist Ideology and the Working-class Movement in Spain, 1868-1898. University of California Press. p. 110. ISBN 978-0520063983.
  14. ^ Martin, Benjamin (1990). The Agony of Modernization: Labor and Industrialization in Spain. Cornell University Press. p. 88. ISBN 978-0875461656.
  15. ^ Ackelsberg, Martha A. (1991) [2005]. Free Women of Spain: Anarchism and the Struggle for the Emancipation of Women. AK Press. p. 61. ISBN 978-1902593968.
  16. ^ Turcato, Davide. Making Sense of Anarchism: Errico Malatesta's Experiments with Revolution, 1889-1900. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0230301795.
  17. ^ Calmfors, Lars; Driffill, John; Honkapohja, Seppo; Giavazzi, Francesco (April 1988). "Bargaining Structure, Corporatism and Macroeconomic Performance". Economic Policy. 3 (6): 13. doi:10.2307/1344503. JSTOR 1344503.
  18. ^ Grunig, James E. (January 2000). "Collectivism, Collaboration, and Societal Corporatism as Core Professional Values in Public Relations". Journal of Public Relations Research. 12 (1): 23–48. doi:10.1207/S1532754XJPRR1201_3. ISSN 1062-726X.
  19. ^ Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (1991). "Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation". Psychological Review. 98 (2): 224–253. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.320.1159. doi:10.1037/0033-295x.98.2.224.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  20. ^ Triandis, H. C. (1983). Allocentric vs. idiocentric social behavior: A major cultural difference between Hispanics and mainstream (Technical reports). Champaign: Department of Psychology, University of Illinois.
  21. ^ Trafimow, D., Triandis, H. C., & Goto, S. G. (1991). "Some tests of the distinction between the private self and the collective self". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 60 (5): 649–665. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.60.5.649.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  22. ^ Triandis, H. C., Bhawuk, D. P. S., & Gelfand, M. J. (1995). "Horizontal and vertical dimensions of individualism and collectivism: A theoretical and measurement refinement". Cross-Cultural Research. 29 (3): 240–275. doi:10.1177/106939719502900302. S2CID 143852368.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  23. ^ Taras; et al. (2014). "Opposite Ends of the Same Stick? Multi-Method Test of the Dimensionality of Individualism and Collectivism" (PDF). Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. 45 (2): 213–245. doi:10.1177/0022022113509132. hdl:11693/12980. S2CID 9349054.
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