Yet the real dispute - where to draw the boundary between individual and collective interests - is hardly so simple.

These class or collective interests are in conflict with those of the other class as a whole.

"My role is to oversee the collective interest of the 32 owners," he said.

"The order of the day," he said at one point, "is to serve for the benefit of the collective interest."

Under a judge's guidance, the hospital's creditors formed a committee to look after their collective interests.

The serious collective interest for improving business ethics merits more than a debating response from officials at schools of management.

The key to what must be done is found in the words "collective interest."

Such collective interests turn the best summer festivals into events rather than just painfully long concerts.

We all know that the collective interest of Europe is at stake here.

We want to feel good about ourselves, or at least better, sometimes at the cost of our best collective interests.