24 July 2018 Are People Tribal?

Are People Tribal?

Do people want to live around people “like them” or do they want a diverse mix. Historically it has been the former. In cities, ethnic groups lived in the same neighborhoods.  In New York there was Harlem, Chinatown, Brooklyn had Hassidic Jews.  This is similar to many cities.   Now an argument can be made that housing laws, or a lack of such laws, forced segregation.  But I also believe people were comfortable being around neighbors who had similar cultural backgrounds.  I can’t say this was right or wrong, just how things were. 

Today’s younger generations are exposed to more cultures and thus enjoy the diversity of their surroundings.  They establish friendships at early ages with people from many different backgrounds.  They don’t hold onto the territorial mindset that their parents or grandparents had.  

There is still strong ethnic pressure on people to marry within their culture. It is ok to have close friends who are not from your “tribe” but marriage is a different thing.  It will take another generation or so to loosen this belief.  It will not go away.  There will always be groups that think their culture will diminish if intermarriage is normal.  

I believe you can have assimilation within a country and be able to maintain ones culture.  There is a give and take on both sides.  People have to accept that certain norms may not be consistent with the culture they came from but they need to integrate them if they want to be part of the country they go to.  A country should also respect an immigrant’s culture to have its people know and experience the many different cultures the world has.   

There are positives to having ethnic neighborhoods, however, the more we live together the better we will be.  That does not mean to exclude the culture you came from but to add it to the mix to enhance the overall place.