Final answer:
Communitarian values or collectivism emphasize the importance of societal needs over individual freedoms, suggesting a balance between individual rights and community responsibilities, and often involve state intervention to protect the public good.
Step-by-step explanation:
When communitarian values or collectivism is emphasized, the needs of society as a whole are generally viewed as being more important than individual freedoms. This viewpoint posits that a cohesive society requires a balance between individual rights and responsibilities to the community, where government intervention may be necessary to protect the public good. Communitarian systems, contrasting with highly individualistic societies like the United States, can often appear to prioritize state roles over personal autonomy, as in cases where the goal is to ensure that nobody is in need.
Such a perspective understands the individual as intrinsically linked to the broader community, and the government plays a central role in harmonizing these relationships, sometimes at the expense of individual freedoms. The idea is rooted in the belief that collective well-being can justify certain limitations on personal liberties, as seen in policies around smoking or taxation where individual behavior or resources are regulated to benefit the greater societal health and welfare.