Premium Essay

It Takes A Tribe David Berreby Summary

Submitted By
Words 615
Pages 3
In the essay “It Takes a Tribe,” David Berreby states that he believes all people want to be a part of something. Berreby explains that people have a subconscious want to be involved. He specifically focuses on college students and how college students don’t just attend college. He says that college students attend college as well as create tribes. Fraternities and sororities, sports teams, clubs, and so on are many ways that college students make their world smaller and create groups for themselves. These groups they create give them a sense of togetherness and the feeling of being one. The article then claims that students can subconsciously know which groups matter more to them. This creates a sense of rivalry and competition among the many …show more content…
Banaji analyzes that once you are in a tribe it is extremely hard to let go and leave the tribe. Social tribes essentially become a part of who a person is and how they are represented.
Many intriguing topics were discussed throughout this article. One aspect of the writing that stuck out to me most was that people make so many subconscious decisions. Without knowing it, people automatically find groups to associate themselves with. Once people create or join these groups, they portray themselves through the groups and use the groups to represent them. The article mentions a study that took place at Rutgers nearly 20 years ago. The students who are placed in a room with a Rutgers flag stated that they were from Rutgers before the students who were placed in a room with a neutral flag. Because these students saw the flag, they immediately thought about their Rutgers connection and associated themselves with the school(10). A junior at the University of California stated, “School spirit is important because it gives us a sense of belonging and a being a part of something bigger. Besides, USC sucks in every way(9).” This girl is subconsciously ranking her school over USC. Even if USC is a better school, she automatically

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Summary of David Bereby's Essay 'It Takes a Tribe"

...Summary of ‘It Takes A Tribe’ by ‘David Berreby’ David Berreby is a research writer, who has deeply observed and analyzed the human nature of association, in his prose ”It Takes A Tribe”. Berreby claims, through his prose, that humans automatically and subconsciously, want and try to become a part of something larger than them (9). Prof. Mahzarin R. Banaji, who led a study about ‘subconscious tribal beliefs’, argues that people act accordingly once divided into groups, even if they know that the divisions are arbitrary and futile (‘It Takes A Tribe’ 10). Many of the surveys and examples presented in Berreby’s article are based on the college life of students. Berreby demonstrates that a college campus breeds competitive spirit and therefore tribalism (9). Berreby also writes that, “A sense of ‘us’ brings with it a sense of ‘them’”. “We may come to believe, that an essential trait separates us from the rest of humanity (them)”, he adds. A person relating to a particular tribe usually begins to dissociate with another tribe (9). Prof. Robert M. Saplosky’s e-mail interview declares, in detail, how the faculty and students of Stanford University are affiliated with layers of social groups, persisting from the university notch right till their chosen majors. They are familiar with their rival groups at each level (‘It takes A tribe’ 9). The embarrassment or discomfort faced to enter a group is directly proportional to the value a member has for that group (Berreby 11). Berreby finally...

Words: 301 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

It Takes a Tribe Summary

...“It Takes a Tribe” Summaries One Sentence Summary: In “It Takes a Tribe,” David Berreby uses the spectacle of college students to show that humans have such a strong urge to belong and fit in that they will subconsciously form groups based on arbitrary criteria. One Paragraph Summary: In “It Takes a Tribe,” David Berreby looks at the social constructs of colleges across the nation and their implications. From the point when a student is accepted into a college they almost immediately start to affiliate themselves with that college’s mannerisms and culture. But it goes farther than that, once they arrive the divisions grow more and more. Different majors and clubs have rivalries and even within majors there are divisions. Berreby goes on to explain that often students will rank the groups they’re part of higher than some racial groups in terms of having qualifications that define a group. Also, students will often use words that are associated with the college they attend to describe themselves. Furthermore, it seemed that groups that were more difficult to get into or required embarrassing acts to get into were ranked higher than those that weren’t difficult or didn’t require embarrassment to get into. Berreby cites Peter Richerson saying humans are “looking to be told what group they belong to, and then once they do that, they want to know, ‘What are the rules?’” Exemplifying that people want to belong above all else. Abstract: Belonging is one of the most basic...

Words: 393 - Pages: 2