collectivities

Collectivities are social groupings defined by a sense of belonging and the pursuit of shared aims that enable coordinated action beyond what individuals can achieve alone. They encompass formal organizations such as labor unions, cooperatives, and political movements, as well as informal assemblages like neighborhood associations, artistic collectives, or online communities. Collectivities may exhibit emergent properties—patterns of interaction, norms, and identities that are not reducible to any single member.

Key features include a common purpose, shared norms and values, mechanisms for collective decision making, and some degree of resource pooling or mutual support. They rely on social ties and reputational incentives to sustain participation, and may use leadership, rules, or consensus processes to coordinate action. They are subject to internal tensions, such as conflicts over goals or distribution of benefits, and to external pressures from broader institutions and markets.

Types range from economic collectives (cooperatives, worker-owned firms) to cultural or artistic collectives (bands, galleries, artist collaborations) and digital collectives (open-source projects, online communities). Collectivities are central to theories of collective action and social change, including concepts of collective identity, collective memory, and the collective good. They are distinguished from crowds by greater continuity and shared purpose, and from formal institutions by their often lower formalization and looser membership.