Mattias Desmet, a Belgian professor of clinical psychology at Ghent University, gained prominence during the COVID-19 period for his analysis of how societies descend into collective hypnosis-like states. His 2022 book The Psychology of Totalitarianism (and related discussions, such as a recent interview with Canadian Prepper, link below) provides a framework for understanding mass formation, a process that fuels totalitarian tendencies and intersects with broader societal collapse.
Desmet does not frame this as a grand conspiracy but as an emergent psychological and sociological phenomenon rooted in modern conditions. His work draws on historical crowd psychology (e.g., Gustave Le Bon) and thinkers like Hannah Arendt, while critiquing the mechanistic, materialist worldview of modern science and technology.
Core Conditions for Mass Formation
Desmet identifies four key preconditions that, when present together, make a population vulnerable to mass formation:
1.Generalised loneliness and social isolation: Weakened social bonds, atomisation of individuals.
2.Lack of meaning: Many experience "bs jobs" and a sense of purposelessness in a disenchanted world.
3.Free-floating anxiety: Diffuse, objectless unease (not tied to specific personal threats but pervasive).
4.Free-floating frustration and aggression: Pent-up discontent seeking an outlet.
When these align, a narrative emerges (often amplified by media and authorities) that identifies a clear object of anxiety (e.g., a virus, "misinformation," climate threats, or geopolitical enemies) and a strategy to combat it. This creates a heroic collective purpose, binding people through shared action and belief, even if the narrative is simplistic or ignores evidence.
The result is a form of group hypnosis: critical thinking diminishes, ethical self-awareness erodes, and dissent becomes intolerable. Roughly 20-30% of the population becomes fanatically adherent, another large segment goes along out of conformity, and a minority resists. Leaders are often not cynical manipulators but themselves captured by the ideology.
This process is self-reinforcing and destructive. Totalitarian systems demand conformity to an ideological fiction, suppress diversity and creativity, and exhibit paranoia toward non-conformists. They are inherently unstable and self-destructive over time.
Connection to Mechanistic Ideology and Collapse
Desmet traces these dynamics to a deeper "mechanistic" worldview, treating the world, society, and humans as predictable machines governed by material laws, with science elevated almost to a faith. This disenchants life, severs meaningful connections to nature, community, and the transcendent, and amplifies existential anxiety.
In this context, mass formation becomes a maladaptive response to underlying crises of meaning and connection. Societal collapse risks arise not just from external shocks (economic failure, resource scarcity, war) but from internal psychological fragility. Modern populations are highly dependent on complex, centralised systems, supply chains, digital infrastructure, welfare states, making them vulnerable to rapid breakdown. Desmet notes that never before has a society been so non-self-sufficient; collapse could be swift and chaotic.
Propaganda thrives in lonely, disconnected populations but fails in connected ones. Totalitarianism requires isolation; resistance requires rebuilding human bonds. This links directly to themes of civilisational decline: declining birth rates, eroded trust, elite detachment, and the fragility of "house of cards" economies and institutions.
Prepping as Resistance: Practical and Psychological Dimensions
Prepping: building self-reliance in food, energy, skills, and community, emerges as a rational response, but Desmet offers qualifications.
Strengths: It fosters autonomy, reducing dependence on failing or weaponised systems. Off-grid capabilities (solar, gardening, water security) counter centralised control. In collapse scenarios, practical preparedness mitigates chaos. It can channel free-floating anxiety into constructive action, providing meaning and agency.
Limitations and Risks:
Psychological pitfalls: Prepping alone is insufficient. Totalitarianism's surveillance and informant culture (enabled by a fanatic segment of the population) makes pure isolation ("going underground") dangerous. Resistance must maintain a voice in public space to disrupt the mass hypnosis.
Community is key: The hardest part is not logistics but building coherent parallel networks where differences of opinion are tolerated and human bonds persist. Dissident groups often fracture over secondary issues (e.g., geopolitics).
Avoid total withdrawal: Complete disconnection cedes the public sphere and risks paranoia mirroring the system's own.
Desmet emphasizes "parallel networks" and speaking truth publicly as antidotes. Prepping aligns with this when paired with genuine community and ethical courage, rather than lone-wolf survivalism.
Desmet's analysis resonates with observations of increasing polarisation, censorship, eroded trust in institutions, and recurring fear-based narratives. It explains why intelligent people can endorse absurdities: the psychological payoff of belonging and purpose outweighs evidence for many.
Critics sometimes accuse the framework of downplaying elite coordination or specific policy failures, but its strength lies in highlighting bottom-up psychological dynamics alongside top-down influences. It complements sceptical critiques of scientism, managerialism, and the loss of humility in the face of uncertainty: themes familiar in philosophy.
For those concerned with collapse (economic, cultural, or systemic), the takeaway is multifaceted: cultivate self-reliance and connection; pursue truth over narrative comfort; resist mechanistic reductionism by re-enchanting life through meaningful relationships, creativity, and ethical action. Totalitarianism and collapse are not inevitable, but they thrive on disconnection. Rebuilding social fabric at local levels may be the most potent defence.
Desmet's work is a call to psychological and cultural renewal. As societies face mounting pressures, understanding mass formation equips us to navigate fear without surrendering autonomy or humanity.