Collectivism - Collectivist Societies

Collectivist Societies

There are few examples of societies around the world which have characterized themselves or have been characterized by outsiders as "collectivist".

On the one hand, at the country scale, there are the Communist states, which have often collectivized work activities. If these states practice agricultural collectivism, they are often called Communist states. On the other hand, at the community scale, there are Israeli kibbutzim (voluntary communes where people live and farm together without private ownership), the Federation of Egalitarian Communities (non-hierarchical income-sharing intentional communities), and communities such as the Freetown Christiania in Denmark (a small anarchist political experiment centered on an abandoned military installation in Copenhagen; Christiania has laws abolishing private property).

Another type is fascism which emphasizes certain ideologies such as nationalism and patriotism which can be considered reactionary forms of collectivism, as they emphasize the role of the nation or the state over individuals. Fascists and Nazis also supported class collaboration which was a reactionary form of collectivism related to nationalism but opposed to socialist forms of collectivism such as workplace democracy. However, Fascism and Nazism also ascribe to Social Darwinism, which is an anti-collectivist reactionary form of individualism.

Harry Triandis and Michele Gelfand argue that horizontal collectivist societies are those based on communal living, such as Israeli kibbutzim, while vertical collectivist societies are for example Stalinist and fascist countries or traditional communities with strong patriarchal leaders; vertical collectivism also correlates with Right-wing Authoritarianism.

Democracy, with its emphasis on notions of social contract and the collective agreement and self-determination of the people can be seen as a form of collectivism. Democracy is defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have a say in the decisions that affect their lives. But if democracy is characterized by individuals having a say in decisions that affect their lives, then democracy is also a form of individualism. If one's 'say in a decision that affect's one's life' is to have any ruling weight at all, then democracies require the protection of individual freedoms and rights. To consent or participate in a democracy, one must have certain individual liberties and rights including, e.g., freedom of speech and information, freedom to assemble and form groups, freedom to petition against others and against legislation—and along with these, freedom from persecution, presumption of guilt, unwarranted arrest, and the right to equal and fair treatment under democratically determined law.

Since democracy, as rule of the people (demos), derives the authority of governance and determination of law from the people (from the bottom-up as opposed to top-down authoritarian rule) by every person having an equal say in the ruling of the whole, this requires free and fair elections and that the power to legislate and repeal laws remain ultimately in the hands of the people and not with the central power or particularly powerful individuals.