Process driven: belonging is dynamic, ongoing and changing. One journeys towards the state of belonging.
Alienation: when one does not belong to an entity i.e. feelings of isolation, loneliness and social awkwardness.
Similarity: the features in common with the members of a group.
Stereotyping: an irrational stock image of a particular group e.g. people with a very low-income occupation are socially inferior.
Dominant culture: mainstream society and its strong effect of one's belonging status e.g. the media (advertisements).
Associations: our interconnectedness with others, who we share our belonging experiences with.
Relationships: the often personal connections with others, belonging to a relationship.
Identity: one's identity, individuality and uniqueness often dictates where/what group they belong to.
Comparative: belonging makes it easier to differentiate people on the basis of a range of factors e.g. what group they belong to.
Exclusivity: belonging can divide humanity, leaving certain people out of the group/entity e.g. the Great Schism split Eastern and Western Catholics.
Prejudices: the irrational, learned and virtually subconscious ideologies made about certain groups e.g. racism, homophobia.
Active/passive: active is a group where one is aware that they belong to it e.g. family, friends, school, work, clubs, teams while passive is where someone belongs to a group but is usually not consciously aware of it e.g. the human race, gender.
Unity: belonging brings people together and unites people in commonality.
Longing: belonging is a basic human need; a constant desire throughout our lives; we long, we search, we wish for the right group/entity to belong to.