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individualism
Political and social philosophy that values individual freedom highly. Modern individualism emerged in Britain with the ideas of A. Smith and J. Bentham, and the concept was described by A. de Tocqueville as fundamental to the Amer. temper. It is expressed through a value system, a theory of human nature, and a belief in certain political, economic, social, and religious arrangements. All individualist values are people-centered; the individual is of supreme value, and all are morally equal. Individualism opposes authority without consent and views government as an institution whose power should be largely limited to maintaining law and order; society is seen as only a collection of individuals. Individuals are held to have the right to live their lives as they choose and do with their property as they see fit, without unwarranted state interference. Individualistic ideas lost ground in the later 19th and early 20th cent., when directly opposing ideas arose, some of which took the form of communism and fascism, but they gained dominance again later in the 20th cent. with the near-universal appeal of representative democracy. See also libertarianism.
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