Individualism

This article is shared with Collectivism.

Collectivism refers to an ethics perspective, a cultural characteristic, philosophical position, and/or social and psychological outlook based on people being a group. It is often defined in contrast to individualism which centres individual above the collective group.^[1][2][3]

In collectivism, the core unit is the collective group.^[1] Individuals are seen as fundamentally connected through relationships and through being a part of a group.^[1] In this context, groups are defined as networks of interpersonal relationships.^[4] The collectivist orientation emphasizes collective identity and collective agency, and values tend to prioritize the collective more than the individual.^[2]

Collectivism has many different types, depending on the relationship networks considered within the base unit.^[source?]

Cultural heterogeneity

According to Cohen (2016), any cultural system contains both individualist and collectivist features; Cohen recommends against considering any single large heterogenous group as completely collectivist or individualist.^[5]

In Ethics

Collectivism is a kind of ethics based on people being a group.^[source?] Collectivists focus on what's good for a whole group. Individualists focus on what's good for each person.^[source?] Collectivism and individualism are philosophical positions and are also part of politics.^[source?]

The word "individualism" was originally used by socialists to attack their enemies.^[source?] They said that individualists were selfish for not supporting socialism.^[1] Instead, individualists support people being independent and chasing their own goals.^[source?] They also believe in having lots of freedoms.^[8]

Collectivists believe that one person is not as important as a group of many people.^[source?] They often believe people should compromise to make things better for each other instead of just themselves.^[9] They also think that letting someone do whatever they want is not good if it hurts lots of other people.^[source?]

Psychological Collectivism

Psychologically, collectivism increases the likelihood of including, relating, and assimilating information.^[1]

Research

• In 1930 Max Weber compared two ways of thinking in religion: one where people focus on themselves (individualism) and the other where they focus on being part of a group (collectivism). Weber thought that Protestants were more independent, while Catholics were more into having a structured community.^[4]
• Ferdinand Tönnies talked about collectivism and individualism using concepts such as Gemeinschaft (community) and Gesellschaft (society). He used these words to describe two types of relationships: one where people care a lot about their community, especially in small villages, and another where people are more focused on society as a whole. An anthropologist named Redfield also talked about this idea in 1941 when comparing village life to city life.^[10][2]

• In 1980 Geert Hofstede became influential in cultural comparision. According to him, collectivism and individualism are two ends of a spectrum, where someone leaning more towards collectivism cares more about the goals of their social group rather than their individual goals.^[11]

References

1. Oyserman, Lee (2008). "Does Culture Influence What and How We Think? Effects of Priming Individualism and Collectivism". Psychological Bulletin. 134 (2): 311–342.
2. Redfield, Robert (1941). The folk culture of Yucatán. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226706597. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
3. "individualism | Definition, History, Philosophy, Examples, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
4. M. Weber (1930). The Protestant ethics and the spirit of capitalism. New York: Routledge.
5. Cohen, Adam (2016). "Religion and Culture: Individualism and Collectivism in the East and West" (PDF). Journal of Criss-Cultural Psychology. 47: 1236­ –1249. {{cite journal}}: soft hyphen character in |pages= at position 5 (help)
6. Oikawa, T. (2021). Individualism and Collectivism: What is collectivism? A review and issues. İZMİR KAVRAM VOCATONAL SCHOOL, 34, 2021.
7. Komisarof, Adam (2025). "New developments in Hofstede's Individualism-Collectivism: A guide for scholars, educators, trainers, and other practitioners". International Journal of Intercultural Relations. 107: 102200.
8. "individualism". American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (5th ed.). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2016 – via TheFreeDictionary.com.
9. "collectivism". Encyclopædia Britannica. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
10. F. Tönnies (1957). Community and association. Harper Torchbooks.
11. Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture's consequences. Beverly Hills: Sage.