Some years ago a conservative leaning person wrote an essay on Tribes. It was in response to Hurricane Katrina, and was just really venting his frustration at the disfunctionality and blaming. Still, there are many poignant themes he gets right. The "tribes" metaphor is apt to a large extent.

This morning I watched this 8-ish minute clip. They're describing current society in terms of tribes, in the context of a study about current political tribalism (primarily in the U.S.). I found it worthwhile.



I was curious about the study they mentioned briefly, and found the .pdf here. I've skimmed it (it's 150 pages, but not terribly long and has a lot of charts). There's plenty to debate, and sociological research based on polling is inherently problematic simply because it attempts to generalize unique individuals into categories. It becomes a bit like reading horoscopes instead of using your birthday to figure out what your astrological sign is... Depending on the topic, I'm anywhere between traditional liberal and traditional conservative. I'm patriotic, but not religious, for example; so what group am I in? I suspect others will have similar problems, but it's still interesting enough that I'll give it a more thorough look.

I would be interested to read your thoughts, and there are lots of sub-topics because it is an incredibly complex issue. I would recommend starting with the video, and moving on to the written pieces only if you're really interested.