Loss of Social Bonds Leads to Mass Formation, Rise of Totalitarian State: Mattias Desmet

Mattias Desmet, professor of clinical psychology and author of “The Psychology of Totalitarianism” in June 2022. American Thought Leaders/Screen shot via The Epoch Times

When many people feel disconnected from their social environment they become prone to fanatical belief in an unreasonable narrative, creating favorable conditions for the emergence of a totalitarian state, said Mattias Desmet, a professor of clinical psychology.

The psychological phenomenon where individuals who feel disconnected from their natural and social environment and experience purposelessness in life start to fanatically believe in a certain narrative—even if it is absurd—is a specific kind of group formation called mass formation, Desmet told EpochTV’s “American Thought Leaders” program on June 16.