Martin, I usually like a lot of what you say, but I have to jump in here and say I think you are getting some of the whole tribalism/religion thing wrong--not the importance of tribalism, as you are certainly right there, but it's relationship with religion. As an anthropologist this is in my wheelhouse, as it were. Let me just refer you to one of the best books I've read in the last few years, "The WEIRDest people in the World" by Joseph Henrich. We've agreed that many academics are biased, but this guy has no particular ax to grind, as far as I can tell. He just loves doing good research and proving and disproving theses, and his methods are quite remarkable. Yes, he runs a big lab at that horrible place Harvard, but that shouldn't disqualify him! His point is that the West generated some remarkable changes (science/education, wealth, democracy, etc). centuries ago, and he and a team of scholars tried to find out why the West became so "peculiar" as he puts it. They tested all sorts of theses, combining historical data with info on cultural differences, and figured out why the West became much less tribal than the rest of the world-- why "impersonal prosociality" took off and created large peaceful and wealthy societies. There were several factors, they found, but perhaps the biggest one was the growth of exogenous marriage, esp. after the Catholic church banned cousin marriage late in the first Millennium. People had to marry out. The "Protestant Ethic" (Max Weber) only sped things up later. So now we have a big difference in psychological traits (e.g. individualism) across the world that matches the vast differences in wealth and stability. It's why you have millions trying to go from the Global South (with all its problems) to Europe and North America. (I'm working on an article about this). So a particular form of religion was responsible for the breakdown of tribalism, though not necessarily intended. (The intertwining of tribalism and Islam in the Middle East is another topic anthros have written about). But you are right that we are seeing a re-tribalism as it were, for various reasons, as we lose our connections with each other, as the internet developed , and as particular forms of religion mix too much with politics, yes. There's another guy here, Rene Girard, that adds another piece of the puzzle, but this is enough for now!
Martin, I usually like a lot of what you say, but I have to jump in here and say I think you are getting some of the whole tribalism/religion thing wrong--not the importance of tribalism, as you are certainly right there, but it's relationship with religion. As an anthropologist this is in my wheelhouse, as it were. Let me just refer you to one of the best books I've read in the last few years, "The WEIRDest people in the World" by Joseph Henrich. We've agreed that many academics are biased, but this guy has no particular ax to grind, as far as I can tell. He just loves doing good research and proving and disproving theses, and his methods are quite remarkable. Yes, he runs a big lab at that horrible place Harvard, but that shouldn't disqualify him! His point is that the West generated some remarkable changes (science/education, wealth, democracy, etc). centuries ago, and he and a team of scholars tried to find out why the West became so "peculiar" as he puts it. They tested all sorts of theses, combining historical data with info on cultural differences, and figured out why the West became much less tribal than the rest of the world-- why "impersonal prosociality" took off and created large peaceful and wealthy societies. There were several factors, they found, but perhaps the biggest one was the growth of exogenous marriage, esp. after the Catholic church banned cousin marriage late in the first Millennium. People had to marry out. The "Protestant Ethic" (Max Weber) only sped things up later. So now we have a big difference in psychological traits (e.g. individualism) across the world that matches the vast differences in wealth and stability. It's why you have millions trying to go from the Global South (with all its problems) to Europe and North America. (I'm working on an article about this). So a particular form of religion was responsible for the breakdown of tribalism, though not necessarily intended. (The intertwining of tribalism and Islam in the Middle East is another topic anthros have written about). But you are right that we are seeing a re-tribalism as it were, for various reasons, as we lose our connections with each other, as the internet developed , and as particular forms of religion mix too much with politics, yes. There's another guy here, Rene Girard, that adds another piece of the puzzle, but this is enough for now!
Great article.
Excellent!