In 1985, author Doris Lessing gave a lecture about the dangers of a group mind and how to guard against it. She explained that, “[Westerners] will all emerge with an idea about themselves” that they will believe they are “an individual” operating under free will. This idea of individuality makes them much more susceptible to conforming to groups. She mentions the appeal of “family, work groups, social, religious, and political groups”. To her the group mindset is not inherently dangerous because we do have to join groups eventually, but “not understanding the social tendencies that govern and group us” is a trap. She uses the example of common psychological experiments that have concluded with similar results. People are divided up into two groups. The first contains the majority of the people and the second contains only one or two people. Both groups receive pieces of wood that are close in size, but different enough that they should be able to tell the difference. The large group is instructed to insist that they are the same size. The psychologists have found that at first the minority will object, but after being argued with long enough will give up and agree. Lessing thinks the way to guard against the influences of our group minds is by learning and educating ourselves. Lessing states “It is is information that will set people free”, but we must not only stop once we have become educated we must use this knowledge to fight against blindly following the majorities.
In high school, I witnessed this first hand. I am a strong believer in basic equality and tried to stand up for that using reason and facts, but it was hard to do this at my old high school. My school was extremely conservative and often discouraged equality and encouraged negative stereotypes. To make it worse, an overwhelming majority of students that attended my high school have only ever blindly followed what their parents and teachers say. Hearing the opinions of adults with more life experience and knowledge is fine, but everyone must also research and form their own opinions. Every time a student or teacher would say something problematic and regressive I would try to argue my point logically, but I was constantly shut down. My classrooms functioned just as the psychological studies had.
I may be insignificant arguing in a classroom of children, but there are minorities that have changed history by fighting the majority. Imagine if Martin Luther King Junior had backed down when the KKK set a cross on fire on his front lawn and threatened his life. Imagine if Abraham Lincoln decided outlawing slavery was too controversial and the backlash was not worth it. Imagine if Susan B. Anthony decided women's suffrage and the abolition of slavery were not worth the backlash when she was thrown in jail or threatened by mobs. These are only a few examples, but people who have fought for what is right no matter what the cost have shaped our culture. They became educated and refused to back down against the majority because they knew they were right and the majority did not matter to them. As a result, they changed the opinion of the majority.
Looking at current culture I want to use the example of a group called “Hipsters”. What is equally interesting and terrifying is that they set out to be individuals, oppose the majorities, and be their own person, but they turned into their own majority. They opposed all that was “mainstream” until they themselves became mainstream. Looking at this group it seems like we are all doomed to be part of a “group mind”, but remember groups are not inherently bad. As long as we make sure to learn things for ourselves instead of relying on the opinions and tastes of others we will be okay. They needed to continue liking things as individuals instead of thinking what their fellow group members enjoyed.
Join groups. Join political parties, social groups, religions, etc. Just make sure that you retain your own opinions. Is it okay to agree with the majority of what your group believes? Yes, but keep in mind that no two people will have the exact same interests and beliefs. Do not be afraid to differ in even small ways from your group and stand up for yourself if they fight you on those differences. One of the most beautiful things about our culture is that we can find individuality within a group
