Popular masses define solidarity through irrational suspicion of perceived enemies, easily misdirected.

Evidence

The masses tend always to be aggressive and xenophobe in their social attitudes; they have a sense of solidarity which is based upon suspicion of the ‘enemies of the people’. The identification of these enemies is not always rational, and revolutionary leadership to-day seeks to guide it. The Tafurs of the First Crusade, and the mobs of Pastoureaux who slaughtered Jews, clergy and wealthy men, although they had originally set out on a Crusade against Islam, lacked discriminating leadership. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 84

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to social psychology of crowds and scapegoating — echoes of Girard’s mimetic theory of the sacrificial scapegoat.