Collective gatherings, rituals and identification with all humanity

Abstract

This brief report examines how collective gatherings and rituals may foster an inclusive imagined community that extends moral concern to all humanity. Based on Durkheim’s sequential model of collective gatherings, the process involves situated social identification through co-presence, shared attention and behavioral synchrony, identity fusion, perceived emotional synchrony with intense shared emotions, and potential self-transformation through contact with self-transcendent moral values. While many rituals reinforce parochial identities and in-group cohesion alongside outgroup rejection, some collective rituals may promote broader, inclusive identification. Illustrative cases include global and ecumenical rituals (e.g., Earth Day), interfaith practices, solidarity rituals following major disasters, and syncretic or mixed-identity carnivals. The report distinguishes collective effervescence as a state of high emotional intensity that is not inherently self-transcendent but can evoke self-transcendent emotions such as awe and kama muta, which connect individuals to something greater than themselves and may widen the moral circle. The proposed research framework analyzes collective effervescence and awe as key processes in positive-valence collective rituals and examines their links with identification with all humanity and non-parochial altruism using survey and behavioral measures across several ritual contexts.