The Return of Collective Effervescence - The Gloss Magazine

The Return of Collective Effervescence

Have you missed that fizzy feeling of fun with friends? Ciara McQuillan discovered its real name …

When New York City began the process of re-opening earlier this year, thousands of happy vaccinated revellers gathered in Madison Square Garden to celebrate the music of The Foo Fighters. Halfway through their set, the band introduced comedian Dave Chapelle who serenaded the audience with an off-key version of “Creep” by Radiohead. In a piece published shortly afterwards in The New York Times, Dr Adam Grant, organisational psychologist at Wharton University, observed how “the audience erupted in the closest thing I’ve seen to rapture in a solid year and a half. No one cared that Mr Chappelle was off-key. They were all participating in an experience that was unimaginable just months earlier. One day they’ll tell their grandchildren about that night, when New York City came back to life and their favourite band performed another band’s song, and tried to carry a tune with a legendary comic doing lead vocals.” That crowd was experiencing a phenomenon known as “collective effervescence”.

EFFERVESCENCE IN PEOPLE

Effervescence. The word alone evokes images of bubbles popping and crashing against each other in a glass in a sublimely positive way. Fizzy is good. Bubbles make our nose tingle and our mouth fizz in anticipation. But effervescence is not just for liquids, it is also used to describe a state of mind, or people brimming with positivity. Whether referring to the existence of bubbles or the human state of energy, the word effervescence is full of positive connotations. “Bubbly” people are referred to as such for good reason. We all know someone whose very presence is intoxicating and invites good humour and excitement on every occasion. We seek them out, wanting to bask in their glow. If we are lucky, we know more than just one. Their impact on a gathering is a powerful one, but it’s nothing compared to that of a group of like-minded people united in their fervour and enthusiasm, bonded through a shared experience that can ultimately effect them on a physical level. After a somewhat solitary year, we are making a tentative return to group events and gatherings, prime opportunities to immerse ourselves in collective effervescence.

Experiencing repeated moments of collective effervescence can lead to happier, connected, and more personally meaningful lives.

THE THEORY EXPLAINED

The term was coined over a century ago by French sociologist Émile Durkheim (1858-1917). While Durkheim’s observations were mostly in reference to organised religion, the idea can be applied to any group experiencing in common a ripple effect of positivity and euphoria, a sense of yielding to the energy created within a crowd, a “go with the flow” attitude that makes us feel connected to our fellow human beings.

Émile Durkheim’s observations may be over 100 years old but they have never been timelier than in 2021 as we seek to replace what has been missing in our pared-back social lives and understand why we have missed it. According to his theory, organised religion is forged and borne on a wave or series of impactful experiences or moments. These moments usually come about when groups of like-minded individuals come together to perform religious ceremonies or rituals. Think of the hypnotic effect of a Buddhist chant or the collective exultation of a gospel choir communing in song. The same thoughts are communicated through the same acts, resulting in an emotional affinity within the group, a feeling of being as one. According to Durkheim, when this experience occurs, positive energy, leading to a state of intense emotional excitement.

In the secular world, the effect can be just as magnetic, whether achieved via a shared experience at a concert, an opera or ballet, a fashion show, dancing with strangers on a dancefloor, among colleagues in a brainstorming session or teammates on a soccer field. A crowd can even feel collective effervescence at a protest march, united in a stance against a perceived wrong. Mob mentality in a positive way. Synchrony in numbers. While scientists are still researching how collective effervescence occurs at a physical level, the consensus is that it comes from a state of mutual harmony where people sharing an experience have their very physiology fall into a unified rhythm. Experiencing repeated moments of collective effervescence can lead to happier, connected, and more personally meaningful lives.

Although we think of it as an in-person phenomenon, social media and virtual communication can also generate collective effervescence. The collective excitement that permeated the guests at the Met Gala last month was evident but most of us armchair fashion police had to be content with following the event via social media. Sharing our long-distance spectator status, we dissected the red carpet looks, criticising or approving. We were united online via a shared experience, this time a love of all things fashion and celebrity.

PARTYING FOR PEAK HAPPINESS

“Peak happiness lies in collective activity,” says Dr Adam Grant. The return of concerts, sporting events, larger weddings and celebrations all herald a return to this state of collective happiness that the pandemic tried to obliterate. With summer in the past and dark winter days ahead, the light at the end of the tunnel is the company of others. The need to connect with others has not abated, in fact, we may need it now more than ever. With much to celebrate, there is plenty to be excited about, whether a rugby match, a night on the dancefloor with friends or a Christmas get-together with colleagues, we need this. We might find it exhausting at first, unaccustomed as we are to bigger crowds and the intensity they bring, but we are ready to give it a try. Should it all become too much (and it will), there is always the promise of a solitary day with a good book. That too is important, maybe not for our collective effervescence, but for our collective wellbeing.

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