WHAT IS 'HOMO DUPLEX'?

Forget 'Homo Sapiens', the new term on every moral psychologists list is 'Homo Duplex'.

'Homo Duplex', a term first coined by 19th century sociologist Emile Durkheim, refers to the idea that humans have not one but two sides to them: the individual and the collective.

The 'Homo Duplex' argument suggests we each function on two levels - as an individual and as a society. We are on the one hand biological organisms driven by individual instincts and desires, whilst on the other hand we are social and collective organisms who believe we are 'simply part of a whole, whose actions I follow, and whose influence I am subject to'.

So we each have two parts to our identity - our individual identity and our collective identity. But the question left to ask is this - how do we switch between the two? How do we differentiate between our individualism and our collectivism?

According to moral psychologist Jonathan Haidt, the way in which we move from being individually focused to being collectively focused is called 'The Hive Switch'. Haidt writes in his thought-provoking book 'The Righteous Mind' that 'all human beings are conditional hive creatures' (p258). He writes that we all have the ability - 'under special conditions' - to 'transcend self-interest and lose ourselves (temporarily and ecstatically) in something larger than ourselves' (p258).

When we feel we are working as part of - and for the good of - a larger collective, something extraordinary happens to individual human beings. It is a phenomenon described by Durkheim as 'collective effervescence', who wrote: 'The very act of congregating is an exceptionally powerful stimulant. Once the individuals are gathered together, a sort of electricity is generated from their closeness and quickly launches them to an extraordinary height of exaltation'. In other words, we get a high from feeling we are part of something - such as a group, a common purpose, or a common ideal - greater than ourselves.

There are so many different areas of life where we can see this taking effect - in your own experience, think about how you feel when in the crowd of a concert, football ground or any other large-scale public gathering. You feel a sense of belonging, and you seem to get a 'high' and 'buzz' from being in that larger collective (note the bee analogy is still going strong!!) We experience that 'collective effervescence' in these everyday situations, and we experience it in a very real way through our raw emotions and feelings.

We can see this hive mentality almost everywhere - think of how passionately people support their favourite football team, think of how politicians use language about 'us vs them' to create a sense of collective identity amongst the followers of their party. Think of how religious groups use language of 'community' and being 'one family' to offer followers a sense of identity and belonging. As human beings, we have an instinctive desire to be part of the herd - we are group animals, we are social beings. We feel safer and stronger as part of the group and as part of the collective - and we actually change the way we think and the way we feel based on whether we are in 'individual' or 'collective' mode.

Now this all gets very interesting when we consider the fact that in today's western world, we live very individualistic lives - the era of selfies, self-interest and being 'unique' is upon us! Returning to Haidt, in the modern western world we are WEIRD - that is (W)Western (E)Education (I)Industrial (R)Rich and D(Democratic). We live lives of remarkable independence - we don't need as much face-to-face interactions when we can do it all through technology, and travel means we no longer live in close proximity to our entire family. Religion - a massive source of community and belonging for hundreds of years - is on the decline, as is community spirit in towns and cities across the country.

So where do we find this collective effervescence in the age of individualism? At what moments do we turn on the 'Hive Switch' today? Or are we all desperately searching for belonging to something - for example, a group or belief system - greater than ourselves, and as a result suffering from some kind of collective existential crisis?

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