When people feel bad and act bad, even if only through rhetoric, they also make others around them feel worse. This is a simple example of negative mood contagion.
There is also positive contagion, but it is more difficult to implement. If nine people say nice things to you and one person throws a somewhat credible insult at you, that is the insult that sticks in your memory.
Most social events are a relatively stable mix of positive and negative sentiments, but sometimes the dynamics of negative contagion take over and negativism leads to more negativism. This is probably what happened in Europe before World War I, and it is probably what is happening today in many countries, including the United States. Very serious events, such as financial crises, can also trigger cycles of negative contagion.
This negative contagion is self-validating. If all negative feelings, expressed collectively, actually worsen outcomes, it will seem that these negative feelings are justified. In this equilibrium, negative feelings about “opposition to others” will be true, but it would nevertheless be better to avoid this equilibrium altogether.
A country can break out of a negative cycle by winning a major war or when a political entrepreneur comes along with enough drive and reforms to shift the balance, as Ronald Reagan did in the United States. However, negative cycles are hard to break once you get into them. That said, over time things start to get worse, and so options open up for positive entrepreneurs, at least if they can overcome the coordination problems and make enough people feel better.
Many thinkers and writers contribute to this balance of negative sentiment, especially by writing about each other. Even if their substantive arguments are right, their social marginal product is usually negative, although we can learn from them as they compete to offer the most incisive critique.
If you can avoid being overwhelmed by the social pressure of this negative dynamic, the private and social benefits are high. You can keep moving forward and building things. Yet few are able to resist Durkheim’s logic, no matter how ostensibly nonconformist they may be. In fact, nonconformists are often the most at risk of being caught in this trap, because they are so adept at rejecting and criticizing the claims of opposing forces.
Happy 4th of July!
