Maslow Missed the Mark—Why Antifragile Communities Are the Real Human Need

Photo by John Cameron on Unsplash

By Todd DeVoe
Editor-in-Chief, Emergency Management Network

Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs remains one of the most widely recognized psychological theories in the world. His pyramid of human motivation, from physiological needs to self-actualization, has shaped how we think about everything from education to disaster relief. But as we navigate an era of increasing social, environmental, and political disruption, it’s time to acknowledge something Maslow missed: humans don’t just climb the pyramid alone, they do it together. The true path to resilience, and even self-actualization, runs through the community.

And not just any community, a strong, antifragile one.

The Fragile Illusion of the Individual

Maslow’s framework centers the individual. But disaster and crisis consistently remind us that individuals don’t survive, or thrive, on their own. We’ve seen this in wildfires, pandemics, power grid failures, and social unrest. When the systems around people collapse, it is community that becomes the lifeline. Yet Maslow never explicitly named community as a core human need.

That’s where he missed the mark.