Collectivism is the idea that the group should come first, and that farms, factories, and other big things should be owned together — often by the government — not by private people. Learner books often say “the government owns the businesses and farms,” and that is the picture people have in politics. Though actually, writers also use it more loosely for any “we over me” way of thinking, even when nobody is talking about farms. It is a serious word for history class and the news. People often set it against individualism, which says one person’s freedom and private things matter more.

集體主義