Check out William H. Whyte's The Organization Man, a 1956 book describing American society's turn towards valuing the group and togetherness for its own sake.

Check out William H. Whyte's The Organization Man, a 1956 book describing American society's turn towards valuing the group and togetherness for its own sake. If you want the tl;dr, check out this 1982 interview with Whyte about that book: http://www.pbs.org/video/17759115/ http://www.pbs.org/video/17759115/