The Time of the Tribes
The Time of the Tribes: The Decline of Individualism in Mass Society is a 1988 book by the French sociologist Michel Maffesoli. It argues that mass society, rather than creating a mass of individuals, has resulted in a type of tribalised society. The book and its subject, labelled neo-tribes, have had impact in sociology and other fields.
Summary
Maffesoli argues that mass society contains a paradox created by the tension between mass culture and the human propensity to form groups. Rather than producing homogenous individuals, mass society has led to the creation of many small groups: a form of tribes which are defined by lifestyles and common taste. The humans of a mass society belong to multiple tribes which they move between and exist within as part of their everyday lives. Maffesoli discusses the dynamics of the tribalised mass society using the terms puissance and proxemics. Puissance stems from the emotions at the centre of a tribe, and Maffesoli uses it in contrast with pouvoir, which is at the centre of politics. Because puissance and pouvoir operate in different ways, a tribalised society creates a crisis for certain aspects of political life. Proxemics concerns the sense of being near other humans; it is what brings a tribe together by creating a feeling of belonging and solidarity. Following Max Weber, Maffesoli associates the plurality of values in a tribalised society with polytheism and argues that what Weber called disenchantment is followed by re-enchantment.Publication
The Time of the Tribes was published in French in 1988 by Méridiens-Klincksieck as part of the book series Sociologies au quotidien. It was translated into English by Don Smith and published by Sage Publications in 1996.Reception
The ethnologist wrote that the theses in The Time of the Tribes are unoriginal and what distinguishes the book are instead the value judgements apparent in the author's tone and in neologisms such as "bourgeoisisme", which groups together capitalism and Marxism. Gossiaux criticised the book for vagueness and for relying on metaphors, including the central metaphor of the tribe, without consulting sociography or ethnography. The sociologist wrote that although The Time of the Tribes is a work of sociology and philosophy, its main contribution is that it brings hope for the future of social communication. Laulan highlighted how Maffesoli describes hypermodernity as a middle way between individualist reason and the instincts of the mass.Several foreign sociologists described The Time of the Tribes as important but criticised Maffesoli for not addressing the potentially unpleasant sides of the tribus. Ronald N. Jacobs called it an ambitious book that raises relevant questions concerning society, religion and social movements and Abby Peterson described it as "one of the most important contributions to the discourse of cultural sociology to come on the scene". Jacobs wrote that "the darker side of neotribalism", which Maffesoli does not discuss, is the risk that aesthetics-based groups become too inward-looking and lose the ability to feel solidarity with other groups, which in the context of politics and power can cause problems. Peterson said Maffesoli neglects to address what she called the "murky" and "distasteful" side of his subject, which she exemplified with "ethnic nationalism and fascistic exploitation of the tribus". Jacobs wrote that readers may be annoyed by the book's stylistic devices, adopted from "French theory", and "the complete lack of attention to contemporary American sociology".