Collectivism

Collectivism is understood as a system of values and norms in which the welfare of the collective takes the highest priority. The interests of the individual are subordinated to those of the social group organized in the collective. The opposite of this is individualism.

The collective can be a class, a people, a company or any other kind of community. Collectivist norm systems demand solidarity, "comradeship", "national community", a sense of community or even friendship and love; the latter especially in religious and family collectives.

With statements such as Gemeinnutz geht vor Eigennutz (25-Punkte-Programm der NSDAP; heading before point 24) or Eigentum verpflichtet (cf. Art. 14 GG), the interest of the community is placed before that of the individual, whereby it must be borne in mind that the community in turn also consists of individuals in the sense of utilitarianism. Even if individual freedom is subject to the restrictions of the community (especially within the family), this does not mean that the individual is devalued. Collectivism as a value system is further characterized by high loyalty, responsibility and helpfulness, but also self-control. Like individualism, collectivism is not a rigid construct, i.e. just because collectivist values predominate in a society does not mean that individualist values do not also exist in it.

Most political systems and ideologies do not unilaterally side with collectivism or individualism, but take different moderate positions.

Political ideologies of collectivism are especially communism, socialism, nationalism and national socialism, but their understanding of collectivity differs significantly from each other. Religiously, it is mainly monastic communities. If the commitment of the individual for the collective is based on a decision of will, one speaks of altruism. Collectivism also claims this for itself.

In the analysis of cultural characteristics, the comparison of individualism and collectivism in their expression in countries, companies, social groups, but also individuals is one of several assessable, conscious and partly visible dimensions.

Philosophy of Science

Methodological collectivism" is the term used to describe an approach to sociological research that is based on the assumption that individual behaviour can be attributed to the influences of society. According to this, the behaviour of social groups cannot be (completely) explained by the behaviour of individuals. Methodological collectivism" is contrasted with "methodological individualism" as an investigative approach.

Culture comparison in psychological research

There are studies in the field of comparative psychology, which refer to individualistic or collectivistic cultures. As a rule, the behavior of subjects from more individualistic and more collectivistic cultures is compared. Important research contributions have been made by Nisbett, Kitayama, and Markus, among others. Some of their research as an example:

• Subjects are shown a picture depicting an underwater scene. Two larger and several smaller fish are seen, as well as seaweed, etc. The subjects are asked to describe the image. The test subjects are asked to describe the depiction. People from more collectivistic cultures describe mainly the background, the general scene with all the fish - in other words, they tend to proceed holistically. People from Western cultures, on the other hand, often describe one of the very large fish that dominate the picture.

• Test subjects are presented with several pens. All pens but one are exactly alike in appearance, but one pen has a strikingly different color. Approximately 65% of Asians choose one of the same-colored pens. A significantly higher proportion of US-Americans choose the single pen of a different colour.

• The subjects are presented with a small drawn square. In this square there is a drawn line which is exactly one third of the side length of the square. The subjects are now presented with a second, smaller square without content and asked to draw a line in this square as well. In doing so, they are instructed either to draw in a line that is the same length as the other, or to draw a line with the same proportions as the other line to the surrounding square. Asians draw the line more accurately when they are told to follow the proportions. Americans draw the line more accurately when they should be guided by the length of the line itself.

It should be noted, however, that individualism and collectivism in cultural comparison are not opposites of a single dimension, but two completely independent dimensions; in fact, individualism and collectivism in cultural comparison correlate exactly zero.