In September,
said something that startled and shocked me. He said that we’re witnessing a shift from an individualist culture to a crowd culture, or what I’m tempted to call a mob culture. At first, I was highly skeptical, but over the past few weeks, I’ve begun to rethink my reaction, especially after talking this over with . I’m increasingly getting the sense that people today are seeking an identity in a group and less as a radical individual. There seems to be a desperation to belong to a group, perhaps the larger and more powerful the better. Whether it be Swifties, MAGA, anti-Woke Christian Twitter warriors, social justice warriors, LGTBQ+, identity groups, intellectual groups, geographic groups, theological groups, No Kings protesters, Christian Nationalists, Anti-Christian Nationalists, the list goes on. I’m not criticizing belonging to groups. Belonging provides a number of social benefits, and when your cause is just and good and beautiful, it is good to join with others in that cause.I’m merely pointing out the desperation to belong, to find your identity in some group. There’s almost a magnetic pull, a social pressure to choose sides, to line up, to be a party to something larger and more powerful than yourself. Because when you are desperate to belong, when you are pulled into belonging above all else, then you can lose the ability to also stand out as an individual and object when the group goes wrong. Truth demands intellectual agility. The ability to both belong and critique. To stand with and stand against. Love demands this as well.
I wonder how much the algorithm contributes to this process of being pulled into groups, with the way it feeds us both what we want to see (and already agree with) and the exact opposite of what we want to see to enrage us, trapping us in a binary of us versus them.
The result, as I see it, is a lot of mob behavior. Scapegoating, swarming, group-think, and so on. Rarely do I see people peel off from their group to challenge their own side’s behavior or ideas. Of course some of this may be happening in back channels, but nevertheless, as a general rule, the mob seems to reinforce itself and its own biases and ideologies. Some of my favorite people to dialogue with are those who disagree with me on serious issues (some of them readers of this Substack) who nevertheless can reason outside the mob identity. As I see it, that is increasingly difficult for people to do.
I don’t see this entirely as a rejection of expressive individualism, however. Because expressive individualism is not entirely opposed to adopting a group identity. This may be just another evolution of expressive individualism. The individual feels seen, known, fulfilled, and actualized when they express their identity as a part of a group. And I think for many Americans, there are a handful of groups that people belong to that combine to make their unique identity. You might be a gamer, a vegan, and a No Kings protester, for example. But some of these groups might have stronger pulls on you than others. What they do is provide ethical and social horizons for you to navigate a chaotic world. They give you a plausibility structure for understanding the conflicting norms of society.
And they also provide protection and cover from opposing groups and their criticisms. This is part of the plausibility structure that groups offer. When someone criticizes your politics, your theology, your schooling preferences, your liturgy, or whatever, the group is here to defend you. This is where it often becomes a mob. Swarming to protect its own. Validating your position and lifestyle. Denigrating the opposition. Assuring you that you are safe and good and righteous. Affirming your existence, in other words, which is what we all desire.
This affirmation doesn’t just happen in the midst of conflict. Groups affirm people who conform to their vision of the world in general. But that vision comes out especially in contrast with others. Your bonafides are established particularly not through a positive vision (in many cases), but through a binary, contrasting vision against other groups. The individual makes public claims through memes and articles and statements: “Observe how I am not like these people. How I can condemn these people. Clearly I belong with you.” And the group embraces the individual with likes, shares, RTs, affirmations that they are accepted and appreciated as one of them, that they belong.
Of course, there are positive visions as well: “Look how I am for this. Look what I have built or accomplished for this goal.” But I think our algorithms and general nihilism tend to make us less interested in hearing positive visions as signs of group belonging. We want to hear stories of negative solidarity. Or at least our positive visions must be mixed with stories of negative solidarity, with boundary keeping.
Part of the power of mob identity is that the individual has a sense of belonging to something larger than themselves, something meaningful and important and with power and movement in the world. The contemporary world is a violent and chaotic space, with warring factions and high stakes conflicts. To belong somewhere is not to be left to fend for yourself. It also helps you filter information in an epistemological crisis where all information is contested. Your group will help you decide which information is to be trusted and from which sources.
I still think the fundamental longing to find your identity by expressing it remains the same, which is the basics of expressive individualism. But I think I’ve talked myself into believing, tentatively (unless y’all can persuade me otherwise), that the way that expressive individualism tends to manifest today is through group dynamics. Maybe it’s always been this way to some extent, but I suspect that rising socio-political divisions, class divisions, generational divisions, and divisions created by the algorithm have intensified our desire to belong to a group into a desperation. The tension between these groups and the desperation we experience to belong creates conditions not just for belonging, but for mobs—irrational, divisive, destructive, groups which swarm and look for scapegoats.
I believe it’s good to identify with groups. I belong to the Church. I am a member of Christ’s Church. That is a fact of my reality and my identity. I am a member of my family, which in its own way is an institution with a little “i.” I belong to Oklahoma Baptist University (despite being presbyterian). That is where I work. I owe them certain loyalties and responsibilities, and working there is part of who I am. So I don’t think there is anything wrong with belonging to groups and identifying with them. I said that at the beginning and I want to reiterate that here. I do think it’s important to remember that our fundamental identity is a person standing before the gaze of a loving God who knows us perfectly and who has put us in community with his Church.
But I also think that we need to be aware of the perverse and disordered nature of group/mob dynamics. When the group defines your identity, rather than Christ, it becomes an idol, a false God. When the group revels in negative solidarity rather than positive visions, it is probably perverse. When the group turns readily into mobs, it is perverse. When the group invites you to always agree and never challenge or critique it or anyone on its side, it is perverse. When the group decides for you what is True, then you have abdicated your discernment.
Groups are good, but we must all be willing to step outside the group and condemn what is wrong. God created Adam as an individual and then created Eve and thus formed a group because it was not good for man to be alone. Thus, we are both individuals and created for community. If we cannot exercise our individuality and stand outside the group to criticize it when necessary, then the end result is always the mob.
I wanted to draw your attention to the book release from my friend and the author of the foreword to my book, To Live Well: Practical Wisdom for Moving Through Chaotic Times, Justin Whitmel Earley. His new book The Body Teaches the Soul: Ten Essential Habits to Form a Healthy and Holy Life came out yesterday!
Another good post Alan. If I may... compare: https://www.lewissociety.org/innerring/