Gonzalez 1

Nick Gonzalez
Mr. Turley
English I
19 May 2016
Individualism vs. Collectivism
For centuries, the argument of whether or not the individual is more important than
society has been present. Individualism is a social theory favoring the freedoms of the individual
while collectivism is a social theory that prioritizes the groups goals over the individuals. The
individual is more important than the society because the Bill of Rights states that the rights of
the individual come first and society consists of individuals.
In the Bill of Rights it states that the rights of the individual are more important that the
society and therefore, must always come first. The Bill of Rights goes over all of the rights that
the individual possess regardless of the society or group they are in. An instance of this is in the
first amendment when it states Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or the press;
or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of
grievances. Another example in the first amendment is the statement of all of the inalienable
rights that give every individual freedom. Not only does the Bill of Rights support individualism,
the simple fact that society is composed of individuals renders collectivism obsolete.
Individuals are more important than society because individuals make up society. A wellfunctioning society is made up of many individuals and their ideas. An example of this is in the
book Animal Farm when it describes how every individual animal has a special skill set that
they use to contribute to prosper the farm. Boxer for example was the main laborer of the farm

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and he helped contribute to most of the farming and construction. It can also show how certain
individuals, such as Napoleon, can rise to power and take control of the animals on the farm.
Some would say that the farm is just a group of animals that do everything for the group, but in
reality that group of animals is made up of individual animals that are able to act on their own.
While the belief in individualism is more popular, there is always another point of view for
collectivism.
Despite the evidence against collectivism, many people believe that humans are naturally
oriented towards a social and community existence, but they fail to see that humans are by
nature, distinct and separate beings. Those who believe in collectivism think that nobody is truly
an individual because when ideas are created from a group, there are exchanges of ideas that
make it a group effort. Although aspects of this argument are enticing, it ultimately fails to be a
stronger argument because its true that the individuals learned from others, however, it was the
individual who had to grasp all of the ideas. It is accurate the idea usually takes more than one
individual to form, but each process of that idea was created by an individual.
The fact that the Bill of Rights puts the individuals rights in front of the society and that
society is made up of individuals proves that the individual is more important than society. A
modern day example of individualism being better than collectivism is in the United States
because its society has thrived off of individual freedoms. Individualism is a social theory
favoring the freedom of the individuals over collective or state control and without the individual
there would be no society.

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Works Cited
Nanzer, Pat. "Individual Rights and Community Responsibilities." Learning to Give. Learning To Give,
n.d. Web. 24 May 2016.

McLeod, Saul. "Social Identity Theory." Social Identity Theory. Simply Psychology, n.d. Web. 24 May
2016.

Treybig, David. "Individual Rights Vs. Societal Rights." United Church of God. N.p., n.d. Web.
24 May 2016.