Types of Cooperation

Spencer saw society in a more concrete sense as a collection of individuals forming a group that cooperates to pursue shared goals. Cooperation in society necessitates organization.

According to Spencer, there are two fundamental sorts of cooperation.

The first is the division of labor, a spontaneously and instinctively evolved structure that indirectly serves individual and societal interests. Here, people voluntarily seek their objectives, and the structure that develops unconsciously is not coercive.

The second cooperative system is the one for defense and governance, i.e., the political organization, which is a knowingly and deliberately formed structure that directly serves the interests of society while indirectly serving the interests of the individual. The political system includes the deliberate pursuit of shared goals, and this organization’s conscious evolution is coercive towards individuals.