Explain why socialists support collectivism.

Socialists tend to support collectivism as they believe that both society and individuals benefit from a cooperative economic system. Socialists argue that humans are best able to fulfil their potential where cooperation and altruism reign over greed and individualism, and thinkers such as Kropotkin argued that mutual aid is the sole reason that humans have thus far survived. Similarly, socialists look down on the unrestrained pursuit of wealth that comes from free-market capitalism as material incentives encourage competition between people, and leads to gross disparities in society. 

This support for collectivism also arrises from the socialist view of human nature. Socialists believe that human beings are social animals, and that cooperation is the most natural of human relationships. This is also because individuals can be motivated by social reward, which always comes from collectivism. On the other hand, hard work is no guarantor of material rewards and socialists such as Marx believed that even  when material rewards are given, they cannot give human beings a sen of fulfilment or happiness.