collectivism

In politics, a position in which the collective (such as the state) has priority over its individual members. It is the opposite of individualism, which is itself a variant of anarchy.

Collectivism, in a pure form impossible to attain, would transfer all social and economic activities to the state, which would assume total responsibility for them. In practice, it is possible to view collectivism as a matter of degree and argue that the political system of one state is more or less collectivist than that of another; for example, in the provision of state-controlled housing.

Expressed in the works of the philosophers Jean-Jacques Rousseau, G W F Hegel, and Karl Marx, collectivism appears in different guises in the 20th-century ideologies of socialism, communism, and fascism.

As a policy, collectivism denotes the advocacy of substantial state intervention in the economy for the benefit of the whole community, as opposed to a laissez-faire attitude. Historically the term came into vogue as a reaction to some of the more extreme variants of individualism. It can cover a wide range of social policy positions from interventionism to complete state ownership.