Larger groups necessarily meet on a lower, more banal common level

Evidence

Hence the complaint about the banality of social contact in the large betrays a complete lack of sociological understanding. It is unavoidable in principle, that the level at which a larger group in physical proximity can meet at all, should be relatively low. For, all higher and finer differentiations are of an individual nature and therefore are unsuitable for contents that could be shared. — Georg Simmel, The Sociology of Georg Simmel, 3509

Categorization

• XREF: The inverse face of Simmel’s triad: if the third party lowers the common denominator, Raskolnikov’s dyadic crime-guilt relation can only be re-socialized through a specifically individual witness like Sonya, not a crowd. — connects to: Business dominance stems from group numbers, not greater per-group influence. — Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page, Testing Theories of American Politics:…, 124