collectivism

the principle of ownership of the means of production, by the state or the people

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

collectivism

any politicoeconomic doctrine which advocates communal or state ownership, and communal or state control of the means of production and distribution, e.g. COMMUNISM OR SOCIALISM.
any political system in which communal or state ownership and control of the means of production and distribution is the dominant mode of economic organization. Actual forms of organization under collectivism vary widely. Thus, in some contexts, collectivism may involve a large measure of collective self-management.

Collins Dictionary of Sociology, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2000

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Collectivism

a feature of socialist and communist social relations and a principle of communist morality that reveals the essence of the relationship between an individual and the society as a whole, the personality and the collective. Collectivism is the opposite of individualism. Historically, as a moral principle it originates even under the conditions of bourgeois society, within the working-class milieu, in the united actions of proletarians against the power of capital. Only in socialist society, however, does collectivism become a universal principle of relations between people in all spheres of social life, a prime requirement of personal moral conduct.

The social basis of socialist collectivism is public ownership of the means of production, which eliminates the exploitation of one person by another. Collectivism presupposes relations between society and the individual such that the development of society as a whole creates favorable conditions for the all-around development of the individual, and the development of the individual is the precondition for the progress of all of society. The main requirements that follow from the principle of collectivism in relations between people are comradely mutual assistance, the conscious acceptance and performance of one’s duty to society, the disciplined combining of social interests with those of the individual, and respect for the collective and its interests. The principle of collectivism presupposes a high degree of personal responsibility on the individual’s part: each person must answer not only for his or her own behavior and life-style but also for the fate of the collective and ultimately for the fate of society.

The program of the CPSU has as one of its aims the strengthening of collectivist tendencies in all spheres of life. The moral code of the builders of communism includes the very important principle: “collectivism and comradely mutual assistance; all for one and one for all.”

“Joint planned labor by the members of society, their daily participation in the management of state and public affairs, and the development of communist relations of comradely cooperation and mutual support result in the transformation of people’s consciousness along the lines of collectivism, industriousness, and humanism” (Programma KPSS, 1972, p. 117).

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References in periodicals archive

We have provided additional empirical evidence concerning the cross-region variation of FDI in a collectivist Chinese culture to the notion that culture affects individual experiences on a basic perceptual level.

WITHIN-CULTURE VARIATION IN FIELD DEPENDENCE/INDEPENDENCE: A REGION-LEVEL INVESTIGATION ACROSS CHINA

It suggested that people, who emphasized hierarchical structure and wanted self-enhancement regardless of individualistic and collectivist cultures think about negative aspects of human nature and behaved according to these beliefs.

Social Axioms and Individualistic-Collectivistic Values in India

The salience of family in this study reflects a collectivist orientation typical of a Filipino culture that concurred with numerous findings [43].

EXPLORING THE MEANING OF HAPPINESS AMONG RURAL POOR: A MIXED METHODS STUDY ON HAPPINESS IN A RURAL COMMUNITY

Collectivist cultures also highlight the control and balance of one's emotions more so than individualistic cultures (Soto, Levenson, and Ebling, 2005), (Mitamura, Leu, Campos, Boccagno, and Tugade, 2014) and (Schoefer, 2010).

Multi-ethnic Groups Shopping Trip Frequency: Scoping Research on Malaysian Shoppers

ACA, the most recent usurpation of medicine by collectivists, forces Americans to purchase health insurance whether they want it, need it, or can even afford it.

The individual vs. the collective

We focused on the collectivist value orientation for two reasons: first, most psychological contract research has to date been conducted within an individualist context, which has assumed an individualistic balanced exchange relationship, and second, we expected that a collectivist value orientation would be more likely to generate norm-consistent behavior (Bond 1986; Bontempo and Rivero 1992; Markus and Kitayama 1991).

Collectivist values, exchange ideology and psychological contract preference

The important point in this construal of one's self-identity is that the self in collectivist societies is viewed as related to others and as interdependent with them.

Relational selves: gender and cultural differences in moral reasoning

Some racists even started launching racist tirades against "white people" online, calling for them to be stripped of their rights for being the same skin color as Roof--ironically, a very similar collectivist outlook to the one displayed by the alleged mass-murderer, an ideology that sees only "race" (or "class" or "gender") rather than unique individuals created in the image of God.

Charleston murderer: a drug-abusing National Socialist: Dylann Roof, portrayed as a right-wing racist, is actually a National Socialist who, like liberals in dealings with preborn infants and the elderly, is willing to kill to make life good

The results of the experiment show that collectivist (individualist) culture auditors revise their estimates by increasing budgeted audit hours more (less) when additional audit evidence is relatively unfavourable to initial information.

Individualism/Collectivism effects on auditors estimating budgeted audit hours

Moreover individual group members' average propensity to distrust will be higher in organizations from collectivist than from individualist cultures.

Organizational Trust: A Cultural Perspective

China's liberation in 1949 was similar to Russia's revolution in 1917, not only because communists came to power in both countries but because traditional collectivist institutions, undermined by preceding Westernization, were re-established and strengthened.

Varying growth trajectories of the west and the south: the role of inequality and institutions