Is physical co-presence a prerequisite for Durkheimian collective effervescence? Reflections on remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper explores why it is that so many of us regard virtual communication technologies as imperfect substitutes for co-present organisational interaction. In so doing, it invokes Durkheim’s concept of collective effervescence; that is, the bonding phenomenon experienced between people in physical proximity. Initially, ethnographic data are presented from a Scottish commune known as the Findhorn Foundation, where the word ‘energy’ is widely used by participants to describe the feelings associated with co-present interaction. Macrosocial data are then drawn from the ‘Return, Reimagine, Reinvent’ series of reports published by McKinsey & Co. which documents remote working experiences during the pandemic. Both data sets suggest that even in an era of advanced virtual connectivity, physical co-presence remains a prerequisite for collective effervescence. Furthermore, the data reveal that while virtual connections are useful for routine communication, our sense of collective effervescence must be periodically ‘recharged’ by means of intermittent physical assembly.