No single bond alone can produce or sustain a social group.
Evidence
Neither love nor the division of labor, neither the common attitude of two toward a third nor friendship, neither party affiliation nor superordination or subordination is likely by itself alone to produce or permanently sustain an actual group. Where this seems so nevertheless, the process which is given one name actually contains several distinguishable forms of relation. Human nature does not allow the individual to be tied to another by one thread alone, even though scientific analysis is not satisfied until it has determined the specific cohesive power of elementary units. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 287
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Shared rituals alone can bind a group into a body without any political content. — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics: how Americans…, 827