Literary notes about collective (AI summary)
Literary works employ the term "collective" to evoke a shared identity or common life that transcends individual experience. For instance, it is portrayed as a symbol of humanity's unified existence that embodies both the strength and vulnerability inherent in group life [1]. In sociological and philosophical texts, "collective" often characterizes phenomena such as the shared representations and behaviors that bind communities together, as well as the implicit coercive force within organized bodies like governments or armies [2, 3]. At the same time, the term finds its way into discussions of language and order, where collective nouns and expressions underscore the nuanced interplay between individuality and group identity [4, 5].
- It must be used "because it is a symbol of the collective life of mankind in general."
— from Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education by John Dewey - All government then is coercive; we happen to have created a government which is not only coercive; but collective.
— from What's Wrong with the World by G. K. Chesterton - Action in a stampede, for example, is collective but it is not concerted.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. Burgess and Robert Ezra Park - Collective nouns, 29 f.; verbs with, 101 f. Colloquial forms and constructions, xvi , 38 , 57 ff., 61 , 69 , 100 , 112 , 120 , 149 , 155 .
— from An Advanced English Grammar with Exercises by Frank Edgar Farley and George Lyman Kittredge - A collective noun is the name of a group, class, or multitude, and not of a single person, place, or thing.
— from An Advanced English Grammar with Exercises by Frank Edgar Farley and George Lyman Kittredge