Theme Of Collectivism In Western Civilization

Nelson Mandela said, “Our single most important challenge is therefore to help establish a social order in which the freedom of the individual will truly mean the freedom of the individual.” For centuries, there has been deliberation and controversy regarding the idea of individualism and collectivism. However, there are many instances in Western Civilization where there are themes of progression and of the individual holding priority over the community. People have their opinions and are entitled to them, however throughout the timeline of the development of Western Civilization, it can be observed that the idea of collectivism evolved from being an accepted way of living to now something that societies themselves will not promote.

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roots of orthodox collectivism begins with the Ancient Greeks in the polis system whom later converted to one large polis: Athenians. The poleis are “separate, independent city states – not ruled under a king.” An important characteristic about the poleis are that their societies demanded a response from their citizens, meaning they had a social obligation. This social obligation was not out of force, rather out of the allegiance the Greeks had to their polis. This instance of a collective society derived from the group wanting to carry out the same lifestyle.
The lifestyle aspects strived and achieved for by these poleis included the following: owning your own land, independence, and a military expression of culture. The independence aspect was not meant so that the citizen could express his idea way of living privately. Everyone in the poleis was granted this if they were a citizen. There were no classes or discrimination (for the citizens of the city-state). The independence of the citizen and being able to have freedom in day to day activities was for the purpose of unification of the polis – becoming a strong, collective society. This is a situation where an observation that individual independence was used to further the success of the collectivism within the poleis. The opposite situation, where a society will express to another society, that they must not strictly exercise solely collectivistic ideals and allow individual rights and freedoms, will be another observation made further down the timeline of Western Civilization.
The many poleis in Greece eventually changed into two major city-states: Athens and Sparta.

The theme of acceptance of fully collectivistic societies remained constant, particularly in Athens with their system of democracy and general commitment to their city-state. Thucydides, an Athenian general, made collective allegiance to Athens an obvious priority of Athenian citizens in his speech at a funeral to Pericles, an Athenian statesman. During his oration, Thucydides talks solely to remind the people that in the end, Athens and the “we-perspective” remain most important. He says, “We are free and tolerant in our private lives; but in public affairs we keep to the law.” Thucydides reminds his audience of the theme that individualism and freedom are allowed in private in order that they remain orderly in public, follow the law and put their country first – the most important

priority.
Athenians also had an obligatory duty to make sure that everyone within their collective society remained a “team player” and did not overstep his boundaries to change city-state politics, cultural ideas, military, etc. This was called imposing ostracism. For example, this tactic was used if a political figure became too powerful.
The Greek poleis and the eventual change to Athenians are pure expressions of accepted collectivism, where citizens benefitted and welcomed dedication to state primarily. This is also an illustration of a society allowing freedom and individualism (in the private life) as a means to making sure their citizens were dedicated to society. Societal restriction and many rules existed in the public life and as always, the number one priority for the citizens was the state. Anything that intervened with that collectivistic attitude would be crushed.
Fast forward to Rome and we find that a democratic government still exists under the term of a Republic, “where citizens chose other citizens to represent them.” However, Roman society was not a unified group of people all of the same regard. Now, there is a separation in class and status with the Patricians, aristocratic leaders and Plebeians, “free-born peasants” , even though both groups contributed to their Roman culture. This division no longer is a fully collective society, rather a society made up of two groups with individualistic distinctions. These distinctions are not made up of ideas of the groups (yet), but of the social classes of the people with in the two groups. This is still important because a separation of the unification of society is illustrated.
De Officiis by Marcus Tullius Cicero, is another example of a slight rise of individualism in the Roman culture.

Cicero wrote this letter to his son and namesake and “intended it to be a manual instruction of practical ethics in which the abstract musings of the philosophers on virtue and the good life were transformed into actual rules of conduct.” The intention of this letter is to take ideas of Roman philosophers, along with the ideas of Cicero and compile them into a manual of rules for his son. Individualism is expressed in that philosophers all have different perspectives on life and this compilation is meant so that Cicero (the son) can live his life according to principles that his family agrees on, not the Roman Republic. There are no instances of the “we-mindset” in this letter, more of an “I, as your father, am passing these ideas down to you”. From the Greek polis system to the Roman Republic, individualism has not played a huge role in transforming each respective societies. On the contrary, we now introduce the Renaissance, a time-period that will transform human thought and

opinions.
The Renaissance, meaning “re-birth of attitudes” , was the beginning of the thriving of individualism in culture and thought in general. In the past, the focus of life was “being a part of and defending as a larger organization” . The Renaissance allowed for an acceptance of being unique. Art and literature dominated cultural priorities and consisted of focuses in religious themes for art and worldly concerns in literature; concerns that originated from the opinion of the author (what they believed was a concern).
Individualism thrived in the