Can contemporary affinity communities be called tribes? This concept is used by Seth Godin (see video below) and by Mathieu O’Neill in his analysis of peer group governance, Cyberchiefs. I personally doubt it’s a good conceptualisation but this will be for another discussion.
This one here starts with a contribution by Tom Haskins, who after seeing Steven Pressfield’s Video Series, “It’s the Tribes, Stupid“, takes pains to distinguish two types of traditional tribes. It is followed by the Seth Godin video on contemporary activist tribes, which is really inspiring and worth watching.
Please note Tom’s updated musings and typology here.
Tom Haskins:
” I’m seeing a big difference between two kinds of tribes. Those that you and Pressfield characterize so well, that pose threats to neighboring countries and internal governments, reside in hostile environments. Those tribes have adapted to desert terrains, mountainous regions or urban decay. It goes with their territory to be patriarchal, war-mongering, doctrinaire and intolerant of weakness. The adversity in their physical environments and constant threat posed by like minded tribes would maintain a paranoid state of mind that easily justifies betrayals, beatings and beheadings.
Other tribes that have adapted to edible landscapes: jungles, forests, and river basins. It goes with their territory to be neighborly, nature loving and creative. Their consensual frame of mind yields handicraft traditions, healing arts, and nurturing approaches to individual differences. These tribes are equally timeless, disinterested in progress and insular. Yet these tribes realize solidarity, identity and other psychological benefits of membership — without the honor code driven warriorship that drives the desert/mountain/urban survivors.
Yesterday I also started reading a new book released last week by Paul Herr: Primal Management. He’s asserting that the business world has evolved intellectually, but not emotionally. When we realize how to respect, support and utilize our underlying emotions, workplaces will feel like tribes. Visionary leaders have have taken this approach to human emotions engender phenomenal commitment, contributions, collaborations and creativity. They realize the solidarity that is characteristic of tribes without sacrificing the intellectual prowess, technological sophistication, innovativeness and responsiveness to outsiders/customers.”
Seth Godin:
“Seth Godin argues the Internet has ended mass marketing and revived a human social unit from the distant past: tribes. Founded on shared ideas and values, tribes give ordinary people the power to lead and make big change. He urges us to do so. Seth Godin is an entrepreneur and blogger who thinks about the marketing of ideas in the digital age. His newest interest: the tribes we lead.”