Group membership socializes paranoia by collectivizing shared delusion

Evidence

Illness is socialized: in the intoxication of joint ecstasy, as community, blindness becomes a move of reference and the paranoiac mechanism is rendered controllable without losing the possibility of horror or fright. Perhaps this was one of the great contributions of religion to the preservation of the species. The paranoiac forms of consciousness tend toward the formation of alliances, parties, and rackets. Their members are afraid of believing in their delusion on their own. Projecting their madness, they see conspiracy and proselytism everywhere. The established group always adopts a paranoiac attitude to others. The great empires and even organized humanity as such are not more advanced than headhunters in this respect. — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 156

Categorization

• XREF: The near-identity of mass delusion and collectivity — including the claim that empires are not more advanced than headhunters — resonates with the Fromm/Adorno critique of enclosure-based mass formation. — connects to: When education declines, pseudo-scientific cults proliferate as paranoia — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 156; Shared belief renders delusion indistinguishable from truth — Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, The Worm at the Core: On the Role of…, 497; Traditional religions counteracted paranoia through collective structure (+7 more)
• DEEPTHINKING: The claim that religion preserved the species by socializing individual madness — that shared delusion is protective at the collective level — is genuinely paradigm-shifting about what belief is for.

Broader Connections

• Shared belief renders delusion indistinguishable from truth #expands (0.85) — Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, The Worm at the Core, 497
• Shared delusional claims persist because confirmation is socially rewarded #expands (0.82) — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger, 363
• Socially shared illusion functions as a second reality for participants #expands (0.80) — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 254
• Traditional religions counteracted paranoia through collective structure #qualifies (0.75)
• Emotional identification with a group, not mere membership, drives group-based fear and anger #qualifies (0.72) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 2267