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Vito Patierno
English l Honors
Mr. Turley
19 May 2016
Individualism vs. Society
Does an individual's life belong to him or to the community where one resides? Individualism
and collectivism are two different approaches to organizing a society. Individualism is a theory
favoring freedom for individuals and working to benefit themselves and their immediate family.
It is based on self-motivation and one's desires and goals to succeed. In the article, The Objective
Standard expressed that Collectivism is the idea that the individuals life belongs not to him but
to the group or society of which he is merely a part, that he has no rights, and that he must
sacrifice his values and goals for the groups greater good (Biddle). An individualist society is
more beneficial in that it promotes individual opportunity to make a living and independent
control in your decision and life goals.
Individuals are the building blocks of society. As Orwell stated in the book The Animal Farm
all animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others (Orwell 109). In an
individualistic society each person has control of their contributions and outcomes but some are
stronger and have more success throughout their life. Individualism promotes self-reliance and
innovation to make a living for oneself and their family. Individualism does not have specific
answers to questions that one is faced with on a daily basis. Rather it is based upon ones
opinion, their beliefs, and how much effort they are willing to put forth to succeed.
Individualism creates societies based on the decisions people make and dreams they want to
pursue. Some say that an individualist society can lead to difficulty in friendships. However, just

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because someone is striving to fulfill their own goals and are competitive, does not mean they
can't be compassionate and social people. Even though in a collective society more people are
willing to help and share the workload, it can make people lazy and not put forth effort as they
believe others will complete the job. Despite the information about collectivism in societies and
its valuable theories, many people fail to see the flaws in such a society. In the book, The Animal
Farm by George Orwell, it shows the decline of a society of equal rights to a society which the
powerful determine the outcome. This reason in support of collectivism ultimately fails because
individuals will be remembered for solely their specific contributions and how they impacted a
larger audience. One should think about it like this, if one had boundaries on how successful they
could be, would they continue to work hard? People would be upset if a community was holding
an individual back because of the slack of other members in your society. A capitalist
government is a prime example of how an individualistic society works. Capitalism is based off
of private owners that work as an individual to make their own decisions and living.
In conclusion, the world continues to change and with that the values are also changing.
According to the article, Identity Matters the world is a collection of unlimited wealth and
resources; the question is how can we make those resources relevant to who we are (Graham).
In an individualistic society, one has the power to take the resources given and the freedom to be
different and do their own thing. More and more people are independently minded and realize to
be successful, they need to have control of their future. Collective societies do not work in this
generation where people continue to be greedy and enforce what they want. Therefore,
individualism is how this world should be ran and is the most significant model to living a happy
and prosperous life.

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Works Cited
Orwell, George. Animal Farm. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1954. Print.
"Individualism vs. Collectivism: Our Future, Our Choice - The Objective Standard." The
Objective Standard.N.p.,n.d. Web24 May 2016.
Graham, Stedman. "Your Identity Matters." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com,
N.d. Web24 May 2016.
"Collectivism versus Individualism." Collectivism versus Individualism. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 May

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2016.