People want to belong to something larger than themselves. It may even be genetically directed: good enough, but with a price it comes: it concentrates decision- & policy-making power in the hands of a few or even of one, & you better hope s/he's benevolent, with the best interests of the group at heart; but from where I stand the almost universal downside of this 'cluster' phenomenon is its inevitable push for orthodoxy of some stripe, some tenet, principle or protocol that each member is expected to line up with. This shapes the way they see the world, and it LIMITS what realities are available to them, because what's Real True & Actual is already etched.
To the student of human behavior this has also shown itself to be dangerous- to whit, religion & nationalism-- as part of the way any group defines/ contours itself: by projecting others as an out-group, as not-them (hint: jihad) (hint: kool-aid).
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