To be frustrated that people don't understand that individualism is not compatible with a collectivist mindset?

The thing is, this approach works with ANY system.

The ideal benign dictatorship, sure.

So why not - the ideal democracy - great!

The ideal communist regime - also great!

The problem is none of them will be ideal long term.

I agree with this.

Many of the people who want a high level of state intervention and services seem to prefer not to help people in their community directly. They don't want to be bothered with going to work at a soup kitchen, offering to help the neighbour talking to the people on their street or getting to know them. Collectivisation at the level of government is actually a way to maintain an individualistic lifestyle personally.

Fundamentally, I think this is ultimately less robust than a society where people feel an internal sense of duty to their local community.

In a way, the former, even though it is mediated by the state, is a market solution to social responsibility. Which is interesting, given the OP's mention of Distributism - one of the things the early Distributists like Belloc said was that socialism and capitalism are just mirror images, two sides of the same coin. Paying people to do the work of community cohesion is probably never going to be enough to produce a really livable and robust society. Because if people don't feel the interest and obligation to help their neighbours, simply by virtue of them being neighbours, why would they feel the need to spend their hard earned money on them, in the long term? They won't.

This sort of thing has historically been very bad for the church- look how how the Russian Church is going now - religion completely in the service of the state, and they have lost their credibility as a religious organization everywhere.

I'm also wondering what you see as "our most critical and existential issues" in the OP? It's all very well posing a vague question and then criticising open answers with poster's opinions but you do seem to be expecting a certain 'correct' answer.

First of all, I am not in the UK. I am in Australia. So, my experience is based on here.

I applied for an entry level job that required no previous experience. It was working as a meter reader. It paid well. I never made it to a call back or an interview. However, this job was re-advertised for several months. My application had been unsuccessful and yet this job remained unfulfilled. I tried to reapply but was returned a message that you have previously applied and cannot reapply. I couldn’t think of a good reason why I couldn’t be given a fair go. At least an interview. The only thing that I can think of is that every single time I have seen a meter reader they have always been male. Make of that what you will.

Many women don't actually have much "choice" in the job market as they will be juggling the responsibilities of home life, often caring for children, elderly relatives and supporting husbands and partners who are career focused (as manly men should be).

But ultimately it is a choice because nobody can force you to quit your job. Typically, we see posters on here saying things like "it made sense for me to be the one to go part time due to his higher earner power".

That's a perfectly understandable decision but it's effectively choosing quality of life and material gains over long term progress by reinforcing the accepted dynamic. When it comes to the crunch most people choose the option that benefits them/their family over the socially altruistic choice.

So women would still be doing all the care work - just not getting paid for it?

While the conversation has been great on this thread, I think straying into perceived and alleged sex based differences dilutes the exploration of individualism versus collectivism as political / philosophical / idealogical concepts.

Collectivism, in my opinion, should embrace equality of opportunity and there should be room for individual expression / pursuits within that, within an agreed moral / ethical / legal framework.

Collectivism that depends on both sexes agreeing to particular roles entirely dependent on what sex they are rather than ability or desire to fulfill those roles broadly speaking, and without even going near current gender wars, is not true collectivism if it means that there is built in inequality disadvantaging half the population based on their biology. Just as collectivism based on religion or strict adherence to any particular belief is not true collectivism if full participation in society is denied to those who do not share those beliefs but are otherwise willing to contribute.

Individualism within a collective is entirely possible if power is equally determined and shared to resolvebig picture issues equitably.

I agree with all these three comments, and many others here. Any society with enough resources can carry a few antisocial or freeloading members. But when that behaviour becomes widespread without any real penalty, as we’re seeing now, the dwindling number of public-spirited members can’t keep things working.

What used to be the Left is now engulfed by individualism, most notably identity politics including transgenderism. It has nothing to build a way forward on.

Broadly speaking, do you buy into the idea that women are more suited to caring / supportive / nurturing roles due to their brains via evolution, ie hardwired, while men are more suited to innovative / physically demanding / higher risk / decision making roles?

And do you think society is falling apart because women have allowed themselves to be tricked into believing otherwise and nagged the menfolk into giving us "a chance", leading to the apparent mess we appear to be in?

( Just to confirm, I am not a fan of the regressive claptrap described above, in case you haven't guessed)

Not read the whole thread yet but it's often individuals with unconventional ways of looking at things that drive the most innovation.

Hmm. I smell a whiff of agenda, but here goes, my take on this based on personal experience and observation.

Women are expected to work to support themselves, fair enough. It's supposed to secure financial independence and autonomy. However, social conditioning is such that certain roles are considered more appropriate and attainable for women, despite progress. Paid caring and adminstrative roles are still considered traditionally women's work because they are seen as natural extensions of both women's nature and their experience at home. If women have siblings they have cared for, or elderly relatives, well they can "choose" to do that as paid work because it's a role that needs to be filled, but because of that attitude the pay is less, and these jobs are regarded as easier by the ignorant. Women may be seen as innately more nurturing and trustworthy. (See threads on this site where nurseries employing male staff are viewed with suspicion).

Many women don't actually have much "choice" in the job market as they will be juggling the responsibilities of home life, often caring for children, elderly relatives and supporting husbands and partners who are career focused (as manly men should be).

Fortunately these days women can choose to be more career focused. It requires sharp elbows, single mindedness and sacrifice of many aspects of family life, or even having one at all, and hats off to those who do forge that path and shine brightly. But many who go that route are still marginalised and sidelined in favour of men who don't bugger up HR by needing maternity leave or flexible hours around child care etc. Even though these things are enshrined in law, savvy employers will keep their profits in sight and find ways round it.

How many scientific breakthroughs / innivations have been celebrated with male names attached, only for it to be revealed in later years that some brilliant woman did all the leg work and had their hard work nicked at the finishing post?

I think asking the question "why don't women choose high paying jobs" is pretty disingenuous, because no individual can really choose that outcome entirely. They may hit a sweet spot through a combination of hard work, good luck, being in the right place at the right time etc. You may as well ask why doesn't everyone choose to become a millionaire? As if it's down to sheer force of will. Which it might be in some cases, but a proportion of wealthy people have got there through sheer ruthlessness and dodgy dealings, and there are a great many men and women who prefer not to trample over other people for the sake of pure avarice. I'd rather be poor with a relatively clear conscience than knowing people had suffered for my success.

It's extremely complicated, but thinking about it makes me wonder if women are conditioned to embrace collectivism and men to pursue individualism. Both sexes have biological impulses to procreate and the choice whether to do so, but a woman's choice and the consequences are broadly seen as hers, while men only have to shoulder the financial burden, which even then should be shared equally between a couple despite structural inequality.

Out of curiosity OP, what is your opinion of "evolutionary psychology" ?

And also your references to biotechnology and Catholicism make me wonder what your personal beliefs are, and how they tie into collectivism and individualism.... I'm very interested to know now.

Surely your question should be why are sales jobs higher paid than ones helpful to society?

Or do you think we shouldn't educate or care for anyone else and sales are just more helpful?

That would require a revolution

Yes, the State took over a lot of things because families and communities didn't have the time, resources or money to do it themselves and the most vulnerable in society were suffering.

And families and communities showed they couldn't be trusted.

"The state took over a lot of things that people, families and communities used to do themselves."

Yes, the State took over a lot of things because families and communities didn't have the time, resources or money to do it themselves and the most vulnerable in society were suffering. I keep reading about this wonderfully mythical, yet strangely undetermined time, when everyone helped everybody else and nobody locked their front doors. It is, of course, mostly complete bollocks. I'm 67 and grew up in a working class village. There was no more community support then than there is now. In fact, in terms of family help there's probably considerably more these days. Grandparents frequently offer regular free childcare and many people can expect a half decent inheritance from their boomer parents.

People are no longer reliant on family and neighbours because they don't need to be.

But plenty of people do still need to be. Elderly, mentally ill, those with learning difficulties or severe neurodiversity may not be able to look after themselves, but MN posts constantly say that that's not their problem, put them in a home, the council will look after them, why should I inconvenience myself to make your life any better.

Society would be a much better place for a lot of people if it were less individualistic.

I'm not quite convinced by this. If women have it their way how come it is their jobs that get paid so much less than men's - care work, hospital work, nursing, teaching, for example? Yet a guy selling a sports car that could cause an accident because someone high on drugs decides to show off his wealth from drug dealing in it (for example) would be being paid double as their starting salary as a teenager with zero qualifications.

Are you this patronising in real life too?

In any case I am disappointed when people are so desperate to sound intellectual they refuse to acknowledge objective reality.

You know like beating the ‘climate emergency’ drum considering themselves to be the holder of all wisdom. If climate emergency is such a thing, are you saying that the Chinese and Americans are so stupid they are prepared to be wiped out by this threat. Between them they account for a third of all emissions.

The leaders preaching to us about ‘climate emergency’ always live and invest in real estate by the coast where sea levels are forecast to rise. They fly all over the place while asking the plebs not do so. They do all the things that are bad for the climate - apparently.

We can use soundbites from a first year Uni essay ‘to enrich the discussion’ or just look at the real world as it is.