social interest

These are unsatisfactory translations of Adler's term, Gemeinschaftsgefuehl.  This term refers to the individual's awareness of belonging in the human community and the extent of his or her sense of being a fellow being.  Social interest is a capacity inherent in all human beings which must be developed and trained, analogous, in this way, to the capacity for language and speech.  In the Adlerian schema, social interest can be thought of as an index to successful adaptation:  The more developed the social interest, the more diminished the individual's feelings of inferiority, alienation, and isolation.