Studies have long shown that we humans tend to flock together. It seems that we are likely to earn about the same as those with whom we spend most of our time. That makes some sense, one could suppose, because we’d then have about the same disposable income to enjoy together, and we’d be confronted with many similar financial challenges. Likewise, we are ordinarily within 20 percent or so in personal body weight to those in our social circle. OK, if we work out a lot or find ourselves to be barbecue masters, our proximity to the ideal BMI might direct us to collect with others similarly motivated.
The same can be said about education levels, political proclivities, religious identity and conception of justice. We absorb the world around us in the context of the way that others react to it. Still, many of us are confirmed in the belief that we are independent thinkers, free from the influence of social order and constraint. Are we simply fooling ourselves by seeking those who are not a part of our peer group with whom to find a contrast? We stand on one side of the street with our people and point mockingly at those situated on the other. They might declare, “How can they stand to be in the sun?” At the very same time, others express, “We are so grateful for the warmth and light afforded over here!”
Perspective is important in forming our world view. Yet, what is the role of our innate human urge to be a part of the club? Perhaps, even more urgently, we fear being excluded. Doesn’t even the most eccentric of us search for a cohort of equally unusual persons to call partners? Don’t we want to be different in the same way as them?
