Social 30-1 Essay

"It must be the first duty of each citizen of the state to work with his mind or with his body. The activities of the individual may not clash with the interests of the whole, but most proceed within the frame of the community and be for the general good."

Social 30-1

Amy Sylvester

This statement could be taken either way; you could support it by believing in collectivism or believing in individualism. Collectivism meaning "The principles or system of ownership and control of the means of production and distribution by the people collectively, usually under the supervision of a government" or Individualism meaning “Belief in the primary importance of the individual and in the virtues of self-reliance and personal independence"

Some examples of collectivism would be social organization, collective rights, public control, public ownership and community. Things should all be for the common good and good equality among citizens. Some examples of individualism is self-reliance, personal independence, rule of law, laisseze-faire capitalism and competition. Individualism is a lot of doing what is best interests of one self's.

I very strongly agree with Individualism, I think it should be up to you as a person to make your own decisions. People should not be making the decisions for you. The second half of this statement I strongly disagree with,  because we should be able to do things and participate in certain events based on what we believe not what is best for the people around us. If we were to only do things based on the people around us we may miss out on a lot of advantages in life. I strongly think that collectivists take over your mind, imposing you to think what they are telling you is good.

We as an individual have our rights and freedoms, and collectivists sometimes don't follow those rules. We are told we have the freedom of religion and we can practice the religion of ones choice. But yet some collectivists believe that a group of people should just follow one religion. Hobbes is a strong supporter of collectivism, he told us that if we give up our rights as an individual he will protect us.

It is up to you as an individual to do your own work, it should not be up to anyone else to decide when or how you do your own work. By other people telling you what you should be doing you aren't taking a stand in what you think is best. We were raised being told that we should follow our dreams, and that if you believe in something you should follow your heart. But then there are collectivists who want you to do what they think is best, what they think will be successful. Which from what I think, it sounds like they will crush your dreams. By following what a collectivists thinks is best you could end up getting yourself stuck in a huge mess. But by taking a stand and following what you believe nothing could go wrong.

But it is also way easier for me to support individualism cause I was raised knowing you believe what you want to believe. I also knew that people do not make my decisions, I make my own. But if you were raised in a family that believed in collectivism that's probably all you would know. It would also probably be more difficult for collectivists to become an individualist because they are so used to other people making their decisions for them.

“He who is brave is free" - Roman Philosopher, I think is a strong quote that represents this source very well. If you are not free then what are you? Individualism signifies freedom. Nobody should want to feel like their imprisoned, you should want to feel like you have a sense of freedom. By the he being brave, and sticking up for what "he" believes in his is supporting individualism.