...“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
...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
