Collective

Collective originates from Latin collectus, meaning gathered together. In general, the term describes something formed by or acting as a group rather than a single individual. As an adjective, it qualifies actions, decisions, or entities made or owned by a group.

As a noun, a collective is an organization or association owned and run by its members, with decision-making and profits typically shared democratically. It is used across contexts, including worker collectives, artist collectives, housing or consumer collectives, and online collectives. Governance often emphasizes participatory mechanisms, consensus or rota-based leadership, and voluntary labor.

Historically, collectives have appeared in labor movements, communes, and cooperative movements. In some cases, collective farming or worker-owned co-ops were formed to reduce hierarchical structures and share risks and rewards.

In linguistics, collective relates to collective nouns—words that refer to a group of individuals, such as team or committee—though the term is distinct from the plural form of the noun.

Related concepts include collective intelligence and collective memory, which describe knowledge or recollection that arises from group activity or shared experience rather than a single author.