Psychology
Collective Effervescence and the Ritual Basis of Social Solidarity
Quick fact
Émile Durkheim, who introduced the concept in 1912, used collective effervescence to explain why people in a group often feel a force ‘greater than themselves’ — an emotion so powerful that it forges a group into a moral community.
Why this is interesting
Have you ever felt your heart pound in a concert crowd, a stadium, or a packed protest march? How does that electrifying rush turn strangers into one unified body?