British Academy: The UK's National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences
Social Brain, Distributed Mind
Abstract
Cliques, Coalitions, Comrades, and Colleagues: Sources of Cohesion in Groups
Holly Arrow (Oregon)
Cliques are united by friendship; coalitions by strategic alignment among allies; comrades and colleagues by collective action and shared membership. Cliques and coalitions rely on social bonds that are costly to maintain and monitor, which constrains their size. Bonds based on shared group membership and collective action, however, can be much less taxing. Paradoxically, larger groups make more modest social cogntive demands than smaller cliques or coalitions, an effect achieved via structural complexity. Social cohesion is achieved not by a dense network of interpersonal bonds but via structures such as norms and roles that constrain and simplify member interaction. This approach to cohesion makes such groups an efficient building block for assembling large communities. When people bond together based on shared ties to a group, a leader, or a common purpose, the constraints on group size rest on the capabilities of group leaders and the effectiveness of coordinating structures that connect and align members. Better understanding of how different types of social bonds differ in the demands they make on individuals can help integrate social brain theory with group and organizational theory to shed light on the demonstrable ability of modern humans to function in very large collectives.