Everything You Need to Know about Mass Formation

Decoding Delusion: Everything You Need to Know about Mass Formation

I think most people know that something strange has been going on recently. The pandemic made that abundantly clear.

According to psychologist Mattias Desmet, COVID-19 was yet another example of "mass formation," or group psychosis.

Desmet proposes that societies can fall into collective states of irrationality or hysteria. According to Desmet, this phenomenon occurs under four conditions: 

1. Lack of social bond.
2. Widespread feelings of isolation and alienation.
3. A sense of free-floating anxiety.
4. A narrative providing a simplistic explanation for complex societal issues. 

Once these conditions are in place, individuals become susceptible to groupthink and are easily influenced by a dominant narrative, even if it lacks a factual basis. At the root of mass formation lies a deep-seated human need for belonging and meaning, which can lead people to gravitate toward ideologies or movements that offer a sense of identity and purpose.

Desmet theorizes that as the 20th century hit, the reduced influence of religion led to a rising tide of narcissism. This is borne out in the medical records — and has become extraordinarily acute since the 1980s. 

The Rise of Narcissism

My suspicion is this is the result of a wave of destruction of families and childhood abuse that began in the 1960s. Religion seemed to keep a cap on the grandiosity of narcissism as well as the tendency toward empathic failure and envy. 

According to Desmet, the great totalitarian movements of the 20th century were mass formations — but mass formations with a charismatic leader at the head. The new manifestation of political mass formation includes the centralization of authority in a massive bureaucratic state, which then advocates for centralized authority. In essence, it is a reboot of the feudalist model of government favored by monarchs, particularly Louis IV of France.

The Role of Propaganda

Mass formations of today consist of general, free-floating anxiety amplified by an out-of-control press, which uses that anxiety to create panic. At the same time, centralized authority uses propaganda to accelerate behaviors they want and generate compliance and censorship to prevent the masses from seeing alternative and, possibly, more sensible opinions. 

Once the mob is whipped into a delusional preoccupation and panic, it is easy to get it to gather and scapegoat as a way of managing those anxieties as well as their collective aggressions. Scapegoating allows them to discharge narcissistic rage that they might otherwise direct at one another. 

In my next newsletter installment, I will discuss what we can do to combat mass formation. Stay tuned.

Sincerely,