Group Feeling and its Causes
June 26, 2025
Introduction
I borrowed this term from Ibn Khaldunâs Muqaddimah translated by Franz Rosenthal. Though the Arabic term is asabiyya, Iâve elected not to use direct translations for they sever the meaning from its original language while still imitating it in appearance.
To me at least, many modern groups feel like weak ties of loosely associated individuals. Oftentimes people try to create community by putting people together to do things: a marathon run, a work bar event, volunteering for a holiday. But these are just an instance of shared experience, of which shared values are more important.
What are the things that cause group feeling?
- Walls
- Blood
- Outside enemies
- Mission
- Shared values
- Shared experiences
- Culture
Walls
Walls mean living in the same house, same neighborhood, or same city (they used to have walls that you can still see in Xiâan or Cologne). The book A Woman in Berlin notes the below:
I should note, however, that our vaunted community, the communal sense forged by national identity and living in the same building and sharing an air-raid shelter, is gradually eroding. In fine urban fashion everyone is locking themselves within their four walls and carefully choosing the people they mix with.
Walls create an opportunity for people to connect. If apartments and houses are structured in such a way that facilitates the need for connection, the group feeling will naturally increase.
Blood
This is natural, for respect for lineage is common to men. But like both Ibn Khaldun and Marcus Aurelius said: there is no purity of descent. One may become connected to the group feeling of another for various reasons. And after some period of time, lineages may be confused, so one who was not of the original group then comes to be seen that way. In that they are able to lead, but a general tendency is that people who are not seen as kin may not be accepted to lead.
Outside Enemies
I await the invasion of aliens for it would mean the unity of the human race. The presence of an opponent serves as a rallying point no different than a mission.
This is an oversimplification, but many States come from successive generations of unification against other States. Germany unified fairly late, later than the United States, in response to the invasions of the French in the 1800s, like other modern European Nation-States did during that time.
Mission
As a general rule, a fake mission appears only compelling to the easily controlled and gullible. Since intelligent men see through farces easily, notions such as âchanging the worldâ are unappealing, but working with the most talented in your field is. Creating a compelling mission to orient the direction of people and setting a certain narrative enhances group feeling, as people go through the journey and come out as one.
Shared Values
When people have shared values and shared ideas, their way of seeing the world and actions are aligned. Naturally, their destination is similar and group feeling inevitably comes.
Shared Experience
Though shared experience may bring people together, only a long struggle will be a consistently unifying force, such as the American Civil Rights Movement. As we saw in the air raid shelter, the communion of war diminished once the conflict lifted, and over time the younger generation will forget what it is that brought the older generation together. Thus shared experience is not as strong of a unifying force as shared values, as many frequently do not talk to those from past eras of their life.
Culture
Culture is an extension of shared values, and it can come in many ways: language, habits, custom, tradition, familiarity, and more. I remember reading some Jewish texts and they seemed very mundane, about eating habits and lifestyle. But it is from small actions that make people feel similar, without which big actions can rarely be undertaken.