Collectivism: Difference between revisions

From Le Hub/The Climate Justice Organizing HUB
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Line 11: Line 11:
=== The COVID-19 pandemic ===
=== The COVID-19 pandemic ===
| style="width: 80.3024%; height: 23px;" |
| style="width: 80.3024%; height: 23px;" |
Government and individual responses to the covid-19 pandemic, especially in Western Nations that value capitalism, showed how individualism can cause harm. For example...
For the initial phases of the pandemic, much of our society followed a more collectivist approach to COVID-19 precautions (though it wasn't perfect). Collectivist messaging related to the pandemic includes, for example:
*Individuals have been encouraged to make 'personal' choices on vaccines, masks and gatherings. This discourse suggests individuals are responsible for their health only, however, a lack of support and a lifting of mask mandates means many vulnerable groups suffered as a result of people only considering their own risk.
*Individuals should vaccinate, wear masks and limit unmasked gatherings to limit the spread of COVID. This is to ensure hospital workers are not overwhelmed with patients, and to prevent death, severe illness or long-term disability in others (especially those who are elderly, immunocompromised, disabled or chronically ill).
*"''There is no individual safety without collective safety and collective safety requires that no one is safe unless everyone is safe." - Mia Mingus  <ref>https://leavingevidence.wordpress.com/2022/01/16/you-are-not-entitled-to-our-deaths-covid-abled-supremacy-interdependence/</ref> ''
*This discourse suggests individuals are responsible for contributing to public safety.&nbsp;"''There is no individual safety without collective safety and collective safety requires that no one is safe unless everyone is safe." - Mia Mingus  <ref>https://leavingevidence.wordpress.com/2022/01/16/you-are-not-entitled-to-our-deaths-covid-abled-supremacy-interdependence/</ref> ''
 
<br>
<br>''"You enjoy connection at the expense of our isolation. Your wants are always more important than our needs. When you choose to gamble with your own health, you only take into consideration&nbsp;your own risks&nbsp;and never the risks of others. Abled entitlement ensures your risk assessment will always be, “if I get sick, I&nbsp;will be able to recover OK. My family will be OK. My children will be OK.” Never, “Will they be OK? Will their children be OK? Will&nbsp;their&nbsp;family be OK? Will everyone they might also interact with be OK?”&nbsp;Never, “Could this harm their neighborhood? Their state? Their country? Their continent?” Shielded by your abled privileged bravado of “it won’t happen to me.”&nbsp; Never, “Who might I be exposing? I might be OK, but someone else may not.”- Mia Mingus  <ref>https://leavingevidence.wordpress.com/2022/01/16/you-are-not-entitled-to-our-deaths-covid-abled-supremacy-interdependence/</ref> ''
|- style="height: 23px;"
|- style="height: 23px;"
| style="width: 19.6976%; height: 23px; background-color: #99e1d9;" |
| style="width: 19.6976%; height: 23px; background-color: #99e1d9;" |
=== The climate crisis  <ref>https://in.mashable.com/science/15520/the-carbon-footprint-sham</ref>  <ref>https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/16/the-age-of-the-individual-must-end-tom-oliver-the-self-delusion</ref>     ===
=== The climate crisis  <ref>https://in.mashable.com/science/15520/the-carbon-footprint-sham</ref>  <ref>https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/16/the-age-of-the-individual-must-end-tom-oliver-the-self-delusion</ref>     ===




| style="width: 80.3024%; height: 23px;" |
| style="width: 80.3024%; height: 23px;" |


*Much of the reason for individual-focused initiatives to addressing the climate crisis are the result of intentional, vast efforts by the fossil fuel industry to put the blame and solutions on individual consumption patterns, diverting focus away from the direct responsibility of the industry and the systems that benefit it.&nbsp;
*A collectivist approach to the climate crisis understands that we cannot individual-action our way out of the climate crisis. Instead, we must build solidarity together to face the systems of power perpetuating the crisis.
*For example, British Petroleum, or BP, first promoted and popularized the term “carbon footprint". The company released a “carbon footprint calculator” in 2004 so people could assess how their daily life — going to work, buying food, and traveling — is largely responsible for heating the globe. Today, the carbon footprint is a staple assignment in many schools from elementary to post-secondary.
*Oil companies themselves encourage lifestyle changes such as eating a 'low carbon diet', limiting travel, and turning off the lights. Yet, they continue to profit as the most direct contributors to the climate crisis.
|}
|}


Revision as of 15:50, 25 November 2022

Collectivism refers to "a political or economic theory advocating collective control, especially over production and distribution. In collectivism, the whole is emphasized over individual action or identity." -Merriam Webster [1]

Collectivism, in contrast of individualism, encourages cooperation over competition. Collectivist values revolve around what is best for a community and society. Helping others and asking for help from others is not only encouraged but viewed as essential. 

Examples of Collectivism

The COVID-19 pandemic

For the initial phases of the pandemic, much of our society followed a more collectivist approach to COVID-19 precautions (though it wasn't perfect). Collectivist messaging related to the pandemic includes, for example:

  • Individuals should vaccinate, wear masks and limit unmasked gatherings to limit the spread of COVID. This is to ensure hospital workers are not overwhelmed with patients, and to prevent death, severe illness or long-term disability in others (especially those who are elderly, immunocompromised, disabled or chronically ill).
  • This discourse suggests individuals are responsible for contributing to public safety. "There is no individual safety without collective safety and collective safety requires that no one is safe unless everyone is safe." - Mia Mingus [2]


The climate crisis [3] [4]
  • A collectivist approach to the climate crisis understands that we cannot individual-action our way out of the climate crisis. Instead, we must build solidarity together to face the systems of power perpetuating the crisis.



If you have any suggested revisions or additional resources to share related to the above content, please email them to kenzie@lehub.ca.


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.


Back to Homepage

  1. ↑ https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/collectivism
  2. ↑ https://leavingevidence.wordpress.com/2022/01/16/you-are-not-entitled-to-our-deaths-covid-abled-supremacy-interdependence/
  3. ↑ https://in.mashable.com/science/15520/the-carbon-footprint-sham
  4. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/16/the-age-of-the-individual-must-end-tom-oliver-the-self-delusion
Retrieved from "https://en.wiki.lehub.ca/index.php?title=Collectivism&oldid=4188"