Long ago, our ancestors hunted in groups with spears of wood tipped with stone, wore furs of beasts they had claimed themselves, and survived by moving fairly regularly while hunting for and gathering food. Foraging together, conserving and sharing resources, innovation and cooperation were all keys to survival for our kind, and it led us to where we are today. Our innately social qualities, the level of which distinguishes humans from all other known species, have led us from small families and tribes slowly spreading across the earth to mighty empires and modern nation-states. We are so successful because of our innovation and cooperation in large groups, and it’s a legacy we cannot ignore. Humans are not overly capable individually, there are many other predatory species larger, stronger and faster, with the likes of claws, large teeth and nocturnal vision to assist them. We are but primates, great apes, and not even the largest or strongest of them. We’ve required groups of us: tribes, clans, kingdoms and nations, to survive and thrive, and we’ve carried this trend with us into the modern day. While fundamental to our humanity, our nature hasn’t keep pace with technology and our lifestyles in the modern West, and this has caused some interesting discrepancies which need to be addressed if we are to truly grapple with the issues of our time.
In this age of cars, phones, the internet, suburbs, large and growing urban centers, mass transit, passenger flight, constitutional nation-states dominated by democratic republics and Western-led globalism, it is very easy to forget where we came from. The vast majority of human history was nothing like what we experience today. The story of the entirety of human civilization is but a cliff note in the history of our species, most of which was spent in relatively small groups of hunter-gatherers, much like the tribes, clans and confederations of Native American nations before European colonization. Writing didn’t even exist until a handful of thousands of years ago, a mere blip on the radar of our already very young species.
Believed to have emerged in eastern Africa somewhere around one hundred to one hundred and fifty thousand years ago, at least in our anatomically modern form, humans did not easily nor quickly colonize the landmass of the earth. We struggled to adapt at times, ran into predators or geography which slowed our progress while diseases nearly wiped out certain populations, and constantly sat on a blade’s edge between having what we needed, and losing lives do to lack of necessities.
Being primates, we humans tend to give birth to one newborn at a time, and have a higher chance of complications during labor than many other mammalian species. We also each require decades to fully develop as adults, notably longer than most other species, even mammalian. So, even though groups of adult humans have proven extremely effective at surviving and thriving on this planet, we require a large investment of time, energy and resources to get to that state. As such, we saw a very slow growth curve in our population until much more recently in our history, a level of gradual growth that is very easy to forget in our age of more than seven and a half billion living people more concerned with overpopulation and climate change than survival of the species.
Even when humans finally began founding permanent settlements and forming culturally and linguistically distinct regional alliances, such as those in the Nile River Basin in modern Egypt, Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates in modern Iraq, the Indus River Valley in modern Pakistan and India, or the Yellow River in modern China, technological progress, population growth, and social development occurred rather slowly by comparison to today. This required a different way of thinking from what we’re accustomed to: a central focus on family, honor, martial skill, defined gender roles, and survival. Especially during our hunter-gatherer days, there is much evidence many tribes were led by counsels of elders, often including or dominated by women. Even today, surviving hunter-gatherer societies still should an impressive degree of egalitarianism and cooperation among members and leaders.
Yet, in times of crisis, we humans tend to rally around a central figure, typically an adult male that inspires confidence in his abilities and skills and gives us perceived answers to our problems. This manifests even today, as politicians thrive on exaggerating our challenges and over-simplifying solutions to them, all the while telling us they are the best person to lead us. This reactionary tendency is present in all humans, a hardwired response we all share, and while often more damaging that productive in the modern day, proved invaluable to our day-to-day survival throughout most of our history.
We have developed to be a territorial species, to assure our ability to obtain the resources we require, and thus have presented a warrior strain, genetically and culturally, to protect our imagined or needed span of control. Throughout our history, this role has been performed almost exclusively by males. As said in Philosophical Transactions, “Furthermore, where there is intergroup conflict characterized by violence, injury or death, we find that such acts of aggression are perpetuated almost exclusively by men. In fact, research suggests that men's tendency to engage in coalitional aggression is manifest in all cultures, modern and traditional, and is therefore considered a human universal."
Whether it be to protect against attack from predators, fellow humans of an opposing tribe, or to attack others in an attempt to gain resources or territory, our tendency towards violence developed early on. The realities of our environment and requirements for survival shaped our development as a species, leading to our banding together into groups, differentiated roles and professions, collective cooperation and coordination, strong leadership structures, and defined gender roles, even though they were more or less equal early on. We are not alone, as species, “including hyaenas, wolves, lions and most social primates, therefore suggesting some degree of phylogenetic consistency,” demonstrate intergroup conflict, but humans clearly demonstrate a much greater scale of conflict and degree of social structure.
We are so tribalistic today because it was required of us then. We arrange ourselves into groups and see others, even members of our own species, as potentially hostile outsiders due to the necessity of our past. Many of our childrearing traditions, religious dogma, stereotypical gender roles, criminal justice mores, and social and cultural customs are relics of an age where such things were not a comfortable luxury, but required for our continued existence. From spirituality to trade, making war to suing for peace, family structure to nation-building, our sociality and instincts regarding interaction with other people defines us as humans. Human psychology has been shaped by our collective past, and we are still benefitting from and struggling with that legacy today.
While there are many universals of human psychology and culture, such as spirituality, love, kinship, hatred, peace-making, marriage, political alliances, various rituals, and war, how we express these quintessentially human traits varies greatly over time, place and culture. For example, our modern, Western view of romantic love is not shared by many surviving African hunter-gatherer tribes. According to Anthropological Theory, while love between a husband and wife does indeed exist, it is not the center of the family or tribe, kinship is. Marriage is seen as necessary, and the associated love a delightful but un-needed byproduct. “Even in these societies this thing called love may creep in. When it does, the stricken individual is believed to have been bewitched." So, while marriage and the family exist in all known cultures, the centrality of the nuclear family , and the importance of a romantic connection, varies greatly.
Spirituality or claiming of a religion is another obvious nearly-universal human experience. From the early days of sun, ancestor, or animal-spirit worship, which still carries through to today in several cultures, to god-kings and powerful priest-driven polytheistic beliefs during early civilizations, to the emergence of monotheistic religions over the last several thousand years, to something of a rediscovery of our more simplistic, natural, and honest spirituality in modern times, some form of spiritual expression has permeated every known human culture. While driven to connect with fellow humans, we are also profoundly driven to connect with and understand the world and universe around us. At its best, this spirituality leads us to be superior versions of ourselves, and at its worst, it has led to some of the greatest tragedies known to mankind.
And that dichotomy, between the best and worst aspects of humanity, permeates nearly every aspect of human individuals and civilization. We are at once an incredibly innovative, dynamic, intelligent, social, empathetic, nurturing, and resourceful species, while also being remarkably selfish, hurtful, cut-throat, murderous, hateful, hypocritical and closed-minded at various times. We see these traits just as much today as in ages past, humans truly haven’t changed much over the last several tens of thousands of years. Yet, we have a greater understanding of ourselves and each other than ever before. We have technology and a surplus of resources that allow us to connect and enjoy a standard of living unattainable for even the wealthiest rulers in days past. We have improved so much in our lives, at least in the West, yet we still have so far to go to truly maximize our collective human potential.
One can see our tribalistic tendencies all too clearly in the modern world. On the one hand, it has been crucial to our modern nation-states, to our democratic republics, to industrial capitalism and so many of the good things the human collective has to offer. On the other side, however, there is still much poverty in the world, corruption runs rampant in all societies at all levels, and globalization has not equally benefitted everyone by a long-shot. As said in the book, Globalism, Nationalism, Tribalism, while globalization often carries the promise of inclusion and connection, that has not always been the case. “We are implicitly reminded that the present world can be characterized as ‘global savage’ in a second sense - that is, globalization as a savagely distancing and mediating force; globalization that cares little for those who cannot keep up, and fears those who are its ‘others.'"
This sentiment echoes a trait that is and has always been inherent to humanity: insular thinking. We tend to fear and push away what we don’t understand, while also being explorers and dreamers. We have a need to feel safe, which is entirely understandable, but is often pursued at the expense of what is objectively right, or truly beneficial. Take the proposed border wall between the U.S. and Mexico, or so called “Muslim ban,” executive order. Both demonstrate what is ideally intended to protect Americans and safeguard our interests, but falls into the trap of being an oversimplified answer to a far more complex problem.
All of this brings us to the point of how best to hone and channel our innate protectionist, reactionary and tribalistic instincts. There is nothing inherently wrong with wanting to protect your people, keep your community safe for your family, or desire and work for a better life for yourself and your family. But, there are effective and ineffective ways to go about doing so, and achieving the latter is what all of us ideally desire. Finding the correct balance is tricky, and there are always unintended side-effects, but we can learn some important lessons from our most successful ancestors in maximizing our chance of success.
In addition, technology and globalization has left many in the West feeling less connected and purpose-driven than our hunter-gatherer or even early agrarian ancestors could have achieved if they’d wanted to. In a pre-agrarian nomadic tribe, every member was needed and useful, everyone had a role, and (most) everyone contributed. You were around your kin constantly, protected your territory and people aggressively, provided for or nurtured your family, and they fulfilled the same roles for you. Purpose and connection was built into their lives, for better or worse, and the world around them was a constant danger and adventure.
This is the sort of world our bodies and minds are best adapted for. We need purpose and challenge and connection. Love, camaraderie, and kinship are crucial elements for a healthy life both then and now. Our lives are far more efficient and easy, personal freedom and expression has never been easier to achieve, but in exchange, many of us have forgotten how to fulfill some of our most basic of human needs. And, it shows in our society.
There is absolutely no reason why we cannot reclaim our connectivity and purpose, however, we simply need to intentionally do so. Despite many of the complaints about the Millennial generation, of which I am a part, we have a tendency of not settling for the status quo. Perhaps a result of reaching adulthood during the Great Recession, or perhaps because we were raised to believe we can accomplish nearly anything we set our mind to, and have since been slowed down with a healthy dose of reality, we’ve collectively had to embrace something of a ‘return to the basics’ in our lives. It’s been a positive experience for many of us overall.
This trend among young people speaks to a greater longing on the part of all humanity. A certain resurgent tribalism, connected, empathetic, and geared for the twenty-first century, seems poised for rapid acceptance among many. But in this age of hyper-partisanship and ‘fake news,’ both actually fake and just distasteful to some, there are some key concepts to remember and employ. As said in The New Tribalism, “We must refuse to accept simple slogans in place of thoughtful analysis. We must demand of our media coverage meaning and context of the issues. We must talk to our friends and neighbors conscientiously about the consequences of sudden and extreme action in the service of an inflammatory single issue. And, we must let no single-issue demagogue dominate our thinking." I could not agree more.
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