11 May 2024
PART I-B: Grouped People
Groups Coerce
Sometime, decades ago, I read an account of how some native American tribes brought their young men to manhood. (The accuracy of this account is not as important as the theme.) The goal was to go into nature alone and to emerge knowing who you were. My understanding was that the identity of each young man emerged from his struggle (ancient Greek, agon) for survival. I can see this working for some and failing badly for many but it’s not the efficacy of the ritual that impacted me so strongly. What was so impactful was realizing that our individual identity is ultimately a solo journey. The reason identity is a solo journey is because groups coerce.
We will take a group to be two or more people. “Coerce, tr. v. 1. To force to act or think in a given manner; to compel by pressure or threat. 2. To dominate, restrain, or control forcibly. 3. To actualize by force” (Morris, 1975, p. 258). That’s a scary idea but I suspect there will not be a single reader of this work who doesn’t implicitly understand, from direct personal experience, what coercion is and how it functions.
Peer groups, teachers, school boards, social media, religious institutions, parents, and relatives are probably the first coercive groups we encounter. The power, particularly for a young, malleable soul, of each of those seven sets of influencers can be profound. Be this, be that, be this way…and beneath all of that pressure to conform—to someone else’s (borrowed) ideal—is our bone-deep collective history of needing to belong in order to survive. Perhaps the darkest side to such coercion is that, “As Lorenz has speculated, animals who bond are also animals who aggress” (Tiger, 1969, p. 131).
Some examples of that aggression were featured by Tiger, 1969, p. 135, who wrote, “…candidates for the Great Hung League in the Han Dynasty (about A.D. [CE] 185) uttered the following oath (before mixing their blood to affirm the contract): ‘I swear that I shall know neither father nor mother, nor brother nor sister, nor wife, nor child, but the brotherhood along where the brotherhood leads or pursues, there shall I follow or pursue; its foe shall be my foe.” For context, Tiger was writing about men in secret societies and what this tells us about men and human beings. Here’s my point: if the ideas within that oath are the clarified epitome of groupthink, I cannot get too far away from such “thought.” Further, it is my belief and understanding that the less individual we become as a species, the more susceptible we become to such ideas which have one ultimate destination: serfdom.
I hope I am not naïve. I do not believe that most people can attain self-actualization (individual excellence) but nor do I believe that a thriving, well-spirited civilization depends on even a majority reaching this pinnacle. What I do believe is that if you have come this far in this book, you probably have a mind and a will capable of becoming an independent thinker and person. As Tiger (1969) spent considerable time outlining, we are also necessarily hierarchical creatures. I say necessarily, in the simplest rationale, because the division of labour that makes societies possible depends on this, indeed thrives on that division. It is yet another example of why we need more individuation and freedom of thought, not less.
We have spent the last few pages discussing the true evils of groups run wild. But there is a flip side to groups. Some of our best moments happen with others. And when we’re with others who bring out the best in us, we thrive. So, while groups coerce, loneliness kills.
To be continued next week.
Dan Chalykoff is a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying). He works at CMHA-Hamilton and Healing Pathways Counselling, Oakville, where his focus is clients with addiction, trauma, burnout, and major life changes. He writes to increase (and share) his own evolving understanding of ideas. Since 2017, he has facilitated two voluntary weekly group meetings of SMART Recovery. Please email him (danchalykoff@hotmail.com) to be added to or removed from the bcc’d emailing list.
Morris, W. (Ed.) (1975). The Heritage illustrated dictionary of the English language. American Heritage Publishing Co, Inc.
Tiger, L. (1969). Men in Groups. Random House.
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