Theory of the state as analogous to a natural organism.
The state is better understood as a ‘natural’ rather than a ‘mechanical’ phenomenon, with different institutions performing different functions, and the good health of the whole being attributable as much to the good working of the whole as to the contribution of any particular part.
Also see: social Darwinism
Source:
Greta Jones, Social Darwinism and English Thought (Brighton, 1980)
I don’t think I’ve ever read such an appalling, utterly misinformed article.
Don’t have time to re-write it now, but the organic theory of the state is hardly collective. If anything, it is the reverse, a theory of society holding that society works best by allowing itself, and the state, to evolve organically rather than through direction (the mechanistic view). As for influencing Soviet Russia – who wrote this stuff? If this isn’t reformed completely, I vote it should be deleted.