Collective agency

Collective agency: A concept which is little understood in philosophy and the social sciences which dominantly focus on, respectively, agent-relative methods of analysis or aggregates of individual choices. It is best understood by the rule systems people(s) make or follow as societies – the ultimate and ongoing choice process of societies which govern the lives of all, but are normally presupposed as given and taboo to challenge.

To be distinguished from aggregates of individual choices and best understood as the rule systems people(s) make or follow as societies.

Source: What is Good? What is Bad? The Value of All Values across Time, Place and Theories’ by John McMurtry, Philosophy and World Problems, Volume I-III, UNESCO in partnership with Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems: Oxford, 2004-11.