Look at this Headline.
And This headline.
This tribalism stuff is everywhere lately.
It sure does have a lot of people up in arms.
And well, rightly so.
So what is Tribalism?
And why is this regressive social structure, so pervasive online?
Swipe Right for governance.
The show where we explore civility.
Cooperation.
And Social Progress.
In the modern internet age.
Now lets hand it off to our host, Chris DeRose!
You probably came here because you've heard about tribalism in the news.
Or maybe someone suggested you're part of a tribe.
Hell, maybe you're just realizing that the people around us have been acting strangely
primative lately, certainly when we're put together, in groups.
Back in the 90's we called these groups 'cliques'.
But these days, it's gotten a lot more popular, and we're only now understanding what's been
going on online.
So what is this tribal phenomenon, and what's been causing it?
Let's get some difficult talk out of the way.
See Humans well, we're a civilization of chimpanzees.
Granted, we're not exactly chimpanzees.
And civilized?
Well, we can't always say that either.
In fact, our modern understanding of civility is pretty far removed from our native impulses.
And that's what tribalism is in its simplest form: It's human group's native social organization.
It's how we act when there's no social procedure.
And perhaps that's one way to explain why this behavior is so prevalent in the modern
age of organic, low friction, social media connections.
So how does a tribal group function?
Well It's hard to say where, when and how human societies started, but the need for
coordinated grouping is easy to understand.
A long long time ago, an early human realized that when they coordinate with like minded
friends, to defeat a common enemy, they stand a much better chance of winning.
A single human, left alone, is simply unable to beat a coordinated group of rivals.
We see this phenomenon at work all over the animal kingdom.
At the top of the food pyramid, Lions and wolves form groups and hunt in packs.
And even at the bottom of the food pyramid, we can see ants and bees coordinate together
in colonies.
As a team, the animals that coordinate, are better able conquer the uncoordinated world.
And when they beat their rivals, they're far more likely to spread their dna onto the next
generation.
Over many thousands of years, the behaviors that enable this socialization, become part
of an animal's DNA.
But don't just associate human tribalism with indigenous hunter gatherers!
The word 'tribe' is actually rooted in ancient religious groups.
Groups such as "the twelve tribes of Israel" or the "polytheistic celtics".
And that's for good reason.
Unlike ants, that circle around a single female, Human tribes typically circle around holy
beliefs.
Humans often organize best around a shared faith.
This brings us to the first and most important trait of a tribal social structures: Sacred
Beliefs.
Now to be fair, most, if not all, human social structures have these.
But in tribal groups?
Well, they're usually a bit more faith based than other social structures.
And these beliefs are more central to a tribes social configuration.
A tribe's sacred beliefs are the cornerstone upon which the whole community maintains its
stability.
And Why is that?
A tribe's sacred beliefs create hope in a greater purpose.
Sacred beliefs are a wonderful motivator.
Hope is what gives a community its purpose.
its shared goal.
And its identity.
When we share a greater goal and aspiration, it helps us get through the day to day distractions.
Much like any other herd, pack, or colony, humans do best when they believe they're unified
towards a common goal.
Sacred beliefs inspire humans to build for a better future, and keeps them in a focused
and productive state.
In fact this brings us to a second concept needed to understand the behaviors of tribal
groups: blasphemy!
Tribal groups believe some thoughts are blasphemous.
But what is blasphemy?
Blasphemy is the act or offense of disrespecting sacred tenants or questioning sacred beliefs.
You see the thing about Blasphemy.
it threatens the herd.
It will distract its members from their purpose.
It sows doubt in the faith and challenges the power that binds a tribal community.
So If you've noticed that sometimes, your simple and honest questions go..
Unappreciated.
Well, that's because maybe the benefit of that questions answer was too risky to even
explore.
That's another part of tribal social groups.
Taboos are enforced to preserve the group faith.
Exploring Taboos is an act of blasphemy.
Now before you dismiss taboos as primitive behavior, we must recognize that they exist
for functional reasons.
To a tribalist, a taboo that has been removed, threatens their very identity.
The fear of the unknown that binds tribal members, can destroy their entire way of life,
once resolved.
Exploring the dangerous unknown, presents changes to the group's cohesion.
It threatens long lasting relationships.
It threatens the hope.
Removing taboos in a tribe, distracts the harmony of a cherished community.
Rigid and Understood cultural borders become weak.
This dillutes the community purpose, and threatens to distract others whose curiousity would
have them wander from the group's center.
Interestingly, taboos can often grow in tribes over time.
What's ok to explore today may not be ok to explore tomorrow.
This usually happens when a tribe perceives itself as struggling against new and foreign
risk.
As new, often environmental, risks grow in a tribe, over time, their cohesion shrinks.
Stress within the tribe will grow as uncertainty 'fills the air'.
Under duress, the individuals in a tribe will exhibit hypersensitivity and grow increasingly
intolerant.
Over time, as new and unfavorable information is received by a stressed tribe, creativity
becomes rejected, and shamed.
Deviant members of the tribe will be cast out.
This brings us to a third property of tribalist social structures: "motivated ignorance".
So What is "motivated ignorance"?
It's a cultural behavior designed to discourage knowledge acquisition.
Particularly around difficult intellectual barriers.
Plato described this phenomenon as "The Allegory of the Cave".
It's what happens when a person seeks to bring honest and well intentioned observation into
the group, and is met with strong resistance.
Shaming, rejection, and banishment are often the ways that tribes prevent risky knowledge
from entering the circle.
People who are heavily invested in their group identity will repulse from the natural world
if they perceive that it doesn't facilitate their cultural norms.
And even when tribe members don't understand the nature of the observation, they may still
recognize the shared anxiety it brings their peers, will respond by shaming you in exchange
for increased social standing amongst their friends.
Motivated ignorance is a major problem in tribalist social structures.
Tribalism can becomes ugly sometimes.
Especially when that tribe is... losing.
As the most faithful tribal members retreat into orthodoxy, foreigners become labeled
in non-human terms.
Xenophobia develops.
Foreigners become 'depersonalized', and quickly lose the respect and privilege of receiving
even the most basic forms of human respect.
But Tribalism isn't all bad!
We have evolved this behavior for good reason.
Take families for instance.
Most nuclear and even extended families exhibit a tribal social structure.
And tribal allegiances are often the strongest form of social coherence.
When a social group has a long history, intimacy, and sense of responsibility, tribe members
incur risk and personal sacrifice for the benefit of the group.
Another great thing about tribes is that they act fast!
In tribal groups, decisions are made quickly, and without a large amount of procedural and
administrative overhead.
In more civilized societies, the process of hearings, voting, and lobbying it makes action
slow.
And in democracies, when a party leader proposes a significant change, the debates can go on
for years.
Decades, even.
Tribal systems offer a unified sense of identity.
And for those who are navigating a difficult sense of belonging, or are bearing a large
amount of stress, having a symbol of unity offers a place of rest and comfort from the
turbulence in a greater crowd.
Another nice feature of tribes is that their Membership roles are largely undifferentiated.
This greatly helps in reducing the severity of emotions around social hierarchy and Questions
of Trust and allegiance are resolved with a minimum amount of friction.
Resolution of disputes between members are generally less contentious.
And shared emotions enable an intensity that isn't typically found in competing social
structures.
This is also a reason that tribes often have large, and unorthodox social events and customs
that don't erupt into chaos.
In tribal groups the Social Bonds between members help to keep individuals committed
to the group itself, even when interpersonal relationships sour.
In many ways, this mechanism keeps individuals invested in the social structure, often over
the interests of even close friendships.
From the perspective of the group, that's a powerful feature.
Tribalism is our default state.
It's The natural way.
And for a small assembly of people, having a tribe is not only good - its the only option.
So what do we want for ourselves going forward?
Our IRL world is full of examples where collections of tribes came together, and made great things
happen.
As a team.
Well let me know what you think about this video, let me know about what you think about
tribalism online.
And if you liked this, if you got this far, hey like the video and subscribe.
I'd love to give you some more of these.
Give me your feedback I'd love to hear it . Peace out party people!
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