Collective and Species

In 'Collective Consciousness', defined as 'one's awareness of being a member of a group', 'Collective' is indefinite, i. e. it connotes any plurality.  For, Durkheim, who coined the phrase, it means 'Society', in itself an equally indefinite concept, as the contrast with Marx's more specific concept of 'Class Consciousness' bears out.  What is unclarified in the former is the scope of 'society', i. e. a city, a country, etc. But, there is no such uncertainly in the case of a medium one synonym of which is the World Wide Web--the 'Collective' connoted in the Collective Consciousness that is emerging in it is the entire species.