Interesting: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/10/large-majorities-dislike-political-correctness/572581/ … “With the exception of the small tribe of devoted conservatives, progressive activists are the most racially homogeneous group in the country.”
makes sense. though, I personally think tribalism is a major factor in politics and explains a lot of the support for Trump
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Polarization is a big factor in modern American political life, but mostly leftists don't talk about "tribalism" (not least because it vastly misunderstands what tribes are, and pisses off indigenous people).
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Well, it is not just polarization I’m referring to, i.e. beliefs becoming more separated. It’s more specifically the “us vs. them” feeling, where you identify with your party like a sports team, and want them to “win” and the other team to “lose” regardless of policy specifics.
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Right. And there are a lot of ways to express that but "tribalism" isn't actually a useful one. And it really has been thoroughly co-opted by right-wingers who think people not liking them is "uncivil".
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I was specifically not talking about the *idea*, when i called it a tell; i was talking about the *word*. On top of all the other issues with the study, it's pretty clear that they're crypto-rightwingers with an agenda, that's all i was getting at!
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Yeah, I know, and of course whether something is a tell can be orthogonal to its inherent meaning or merit. But I’m curious – do you have a better word? Google’s dictionary suggests “sectarianism”, but that usually refers to religion.
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(Because that’s a good point about the word “tribalism” being based on some negative stereotypes, but I don’t know what else to call it.)
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I mean, the general name for it is "in-group bias" or "in-group favoritism". That's what sociologists & legit social psychologists call it. I mean, i suppose it's imprecise because it's pretty universal that people have SOME in-group favoritism (for some in-group).
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It is true that modern American society demonstrates runaway in-group bias! The causes of that aren't simple, though, and "tribalism" sort of tries to pretend it's explanatory in a way that isn't really helpful even before you get to the negative-stereotype part.
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