Leftbehindness is more than economy, business and socioeconomic status of residents. It is also the way residents of localities form social networks and how these are intertwined with the local political, institutional and administrative configurations. Sampson (2011) argues that while social networks foster the conditions under which collective efficacy may flourish, they are not sufficient for the exercise of social cohesion and social control. Networks have to be activated to be meaningful. Interaction is embedded in local traditions and social order is produced locally. Analysing interviews from two post-industrial/rural locations in Denmark (related to the Horizon Europe Project “EXIT” on places left behind https://www.exit-project.eu/ ), we examine how group life (spatial areas, social relations and shared pasts) generate action and counteract leftbehindness in terms of territorial inequality in different ways. We develop two strategies to denote the capacity to mobilise collective efficacy in relation to territorial development. We argue that such collective strategies are an important element in understanding the duality between “being left behind” (objective) and “feeling left behind” (subjective).