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Tribe: On Homecoming and

Belonging
By Sebastian Junger

In this Simpleology Summary you will discover:

• The single reason you feel lonely
• Why war “feels better” than peace
• The root cause of all selfish behaviors

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CONTENTS
03 Introduction

04 The Misery of Modernity

07 What Would You Die For?

10 Returning from War

12 Connection Through Sacrifice

14 Conclusion

15 About the Author

16 About Simpleology Summaries

16 Further Reading

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Introduction
Modern society has made us feel unnecessary. The majority of us don’t have to
personally kill or grow our own food, build our own homes, or defend ourselves
against wild animals and enemies. Because of this, we often no longer feel
connected to one another. We are independant.

Decades before the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin complained English

settlers constantly fled over to the Indian - but Indians almost never did the same.
Tribal lifestyles have attracted Westerners for hundreds of years, and the reason
lies deep in our evolutionary past. In modern times, combat veterans come home
to find themselves missing the bonds of platoon life. The loss of closeness at the
end of their deployment triggers depression and PTSD.

Combining history, psychology, and anthropology, Tribe explores what we can

learn from tribal societies about loyalty, belonging, and the quest for meaning. It
explains why adversity can turn out to be a blessing. This Simpleology Summary
of Tribe describes why we are stronger when we come together, and the dire
consequences of feeling alone.

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The Misery of Modernity

“As affluence and urbanization rise in a society, rates of depression

and suicide tend to go up rather than down.”

Western societies have become increasingly affluent. Unlike our tribal ancestors,
as individuals we have become able to live independently from any communal
group. The evidence that this is detrimental to us is overwhelming. Despite our
advances in medicine, science, and technology – modern society is afflicted with
the highest rates of depression, anxiety, and loneliness in human history. Rather
than buffering us from unhappiness, increased wealth seems to actually foster
it. The World Health Organization has concluded people in wealthy countries
suffer depression at a rate which is eight times higher than those in poorer ones.
This is also true at the individual level. In 2015, the George Washington Law
Review surveyed 6,000 lawyers across the United States and found that financial
success had no correlation whatsoever with happiness and well-being. In fact,

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public defenders reported themselves as significantly happier than corporate firm
partners who earned many times more.

Wealth and modernity have not only reduced the role of community, they have
also diminished individual responsibility. In ancestral-type societies a “failure
to share”, “cowardice”, and “bullying” are considered serious and punishable
social infractions, equal to theft and murder. It is not that these communities are
more moral than our own, but simply that its members cannot get away with
selfish behaviour. In small groups individual actions are more open to scrutiny. In
modern society, however, individuals are largely anonymous. People can engage
in antisocial activities without getting caught.

The mechanism for all these differences is simple: poor people are forced to
share their time and resources more than wealthy people. As a result, they live
in closer communities. And, closer communities foster happiness and prosocial
behaviors.

Take Action

How isolated do you feel in modern society? Take this test from UCLA.

Indicate how often each of the statements below is descriptive of you. Mark
each with the letter O, S, R, or N for each statement:

O indicates “I often feel this way”

S indicates “I sometimes feel this way”
R indicates “I rarely feel this way”
N indicates “I never feel this way”

1. How often do you feel unhappy doing so many things alone?

2. How often do you feel you have nobody to talk to?
3. How often do you feel you cannot tolerate being so alone?
4. How often do you feel as if nobody really understands you?
5. How often do you find yourself waiting for people to call or write?
6. How often do you feel completely alone?
7. How often do you feel you are unable to reach out and communicate
with those around you?
8. How often do you feel starved for company?
9. How often do you feel it is difficult for you to make friends?
10. How often do you feel shut out and excluded by others?

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To score your answers:

Give yourself

1 point for each question you answered “never” N

2 points for each question you answered “rarely” R
3 points for each question you answered “sometimes” S
4 points for each question you answered “often” O

Compute your score by adding the ten numbers together.

Interpretation:

15-20: People attaining this score-range are operating comfortably

and experience an average level of loneliness.

21-30: People within this range struggle a little with social interac-
tions, experiencing frequent loneliness.

31-40: Scores falling within this range would indicate a person

experiencing severe loneliness.

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What Would You Die For?

“How do you become an adult in a society that

doesn’t ask for sacrifice? How do you become a man
in a world that doesn’t require courage?”

While modern society has disrupted our social bonds, which have historically
characterized the human experience, from time to time we are thrust back into a
more ancient way of living.

In 1940, for fifty-seven consecutive days, waves of German bombers flew over
England and dropped high explosives into residential areas. Londoners became
forced to live in shelters which were unsanitary and overcrowded. Before the
war, the impact of such bombings had been expected to produce mass hysteria.

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However, not only did hysteria not occur, improvements to the mental health
of individuals was observed. While pre-war expectations were for four-million
psychiatric breakdowns amongst the public – psychiatric problems actually
decreased. Psychiatrists were amazed to see the chronic symptoms of their long-
term patients subside. Even epileptics reported having fewer seizures. “Chronic
neurotics of peacetime now drive ambulances”, one doctor remarked.

The sociologist Emile Durkheim found during wartime suicide rates significantly
decrease. Psychologist H. A. Lyons studied mental health in Belfast during the
1969 riots and found depression rates dropped abruptly during the period.
When, in World War II, the Allies began extreme air raids against German, a
third of the German population was subject to bombardment. A million people
were killed or injured. Dresden lost more people in one night than London did
during the entire war. Unexpectedly, American analysts based in England found
both morale and industrial productivity rose in Dresden as a result. One of those
analysts was Charles Fritz who, after the war, studied natural disasters in the
United States. He was unable to find any single instance where a community hit
by a catastrophic event had lapsed into sustained panic. In fact, he found social
bonds were reinforced during disasters, and people overwhelmingly devoted their
energies towards the good of the community.

In more recent times, the United States experienced profound unity following the
September 11 terrorist attacks. In New York City, rates of violent crime, suicide,
and psychiatric disturbances dropped immediately. The suicide rate by 20%, the
murder rate by 40%.

Modern society has largely eliminated situations which require people to

demonstrate a commitment to the common good. We are protected by the
military, and the police and fire departments. We are relieved of most of the
challenges of survival. Most people will go through their entire life without having
to go to the aid of someone in danger.

For what, and for whom, would you die? This is one of the most profound
questions a person can ask themselves. Having to face that question has defined
us since the beginning of human history. But, in modern society we can now pass
our whole lives without having to answer it.

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 Take Action

Spend time contemplating the question: For what, and for whom,
would you die?

Can you imagine a situation where you may actually face such a
decision? How do you image you might react and behave?

Do you feel any loss for not having had to face such a
circumstance?

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Returning from War

“When people are actively engaged in a cause their lives have more
purpose... with a resulting improvement in mental health”

The US military has the highest reported PTSD rate in history. Almost half of all
Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have applied for permanent PTSD disability. With
only 10% having being exposed to actual combat, the vast majority of veterans
suffering from PTSD seem to be afflicted by something other than direct exposure
to danger. Although today’s veterans are returning from wars with lower mortality
rates, far greater numbers feel alienated and depressed. This is even true for
people who didn’t experience direct combat.

Recovery from war, or indeed from any trauma, is heavily influenced by the society
one belongs to. Modern society appears to make the recovery process incredibly

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difficult. Part of the trauma of war seems to be leaving it. During deployment a
modern soldier participates in the type of close-knit group humans evolved for.
They are almost never alone. They belong to a group which shares resources and
experiences collectively. Then, they come back into a society where people work
outside the home, children are educated by strangers, families are isolated from
wider communities, and personal gain eclipses collective good.

During deployment soldiers never see themselves as victims, as the passivity of

victimhood can get them killed. Yet on returning home, instead of being able to
work and contribute to society (a highly therapeutic thing to do), they are offered
lifelong disability payments and viewed so sympathetically they are often excused
from having to fully function in society.

Recent research has shown that a society with “social resilience” provides soldiers
with a strong buffer against developing PTSD; resource sharing and egalitarian
wealth distribution being the two major components of such a society. In fact,
social resilience is a far better shield against PTSD than is personal resilience.
Sadly, modern Western soldiers return to countries, like the US, which are not
socially resilient. Resources are not shared equally, a quarter of children live in
poverty, jobs are difficult to get, and minimum wage is almost impossible to live
on.

Take Action

Social psychologists have suggested we can begin to build social

resilience into our interactions with each other by using the following
ABCDE model when communicating:

Attend: Pay attention to each other with genuine interest.

Being there: Be present and responsive to one another.
Caring: Care for one another and accept how things look from the
other person’s side.
Don’t interrupt: Accept all the other has to offer.
Encourage: Encourage each other, sharing mutual respect and mutual
value.

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Connection Through Sacrifice

“Belonging to a society requires sacrifice, and that sacrifice gives

back way more than it costs.”

There are certainly benefits of living in modern society. The majority of us don’t
have to personally kill or grow our own food, build our own homes, or defend
ourselves against wild animals and enemies. We can travel great distances easily,
and we have medicine to dull pain. Even the poorest in our society enjoy a level
of physical comfort unimaginable a thousand years ago.

However, we have lost the two behaviors which set early humans apart from
other primates: The systematic sharing of food and altruistic group defence. The
earliest and most basic definition community is the group of people you would
both help feed and help defend. A society which doesn’t offer its members the

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chance to act selflessly in these two ways is, in reality, not a community at all.
Soldiers experience this type of community at war, but it is lost upon their return
home. Although they are willing to die for their country, they’re no longer sure
how to live in it.

A fundamental lack of connectedness allows us all to escape what it means to

belong to a community: Sacrifice. True belonging requires sacrifice. Sacrifice
gives a sense of solidarity which is at the very core of what it means to be human.
It is what has allowed humanity to reach our current moment, and it is the only
thing which will allow us to survive it.

Take Action

There are many ways to foster solidarity with others. You may think of
sacrifice and generosity as financial measures, but there are ways you
can give:

1. Be generous with praise: See the good in others before they even see
it in themselves.

2. Be patient, sacrifice your time: Showing patience is an extraordinary

way to let people know you truly care about them.

3. Give opportunities: Take the time to understand other people’s

dreams and help them work toward them. Help open doors that might
otherwise have remained closed.

4. Give respect: Allow others to maintain a sense of dignity even in the

worst of circumstances.

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Conclusion
Modern society has made us feel unnecessary. The majority of us don’t have to
personally kill or grow our own food, build our own homes, or defend ourselves
against wild animals and enemies. Because of this, we often no longer feel
connected to one another. We are independant.

Despite our advances in medicine, science, and technology – modern society is

afflicted with the highest rates of depression, anxiety, and loneliness in human
history. Rather than buffering us from unhappiness, increased wealth seems to
actually foster it.

Modern society has largely eliminated situations which require people to

demonstrate a commitment to the common good. We are protected by the
military, and the police and fire departments. We are relieved of most of the
challenges of survival. Most people will go through their entire life without having
to go to the aid of someone in danger.

For what, and for whom, would you die? This is one of the most profound
questions a person can ask themselves. Having to face that question has defined
us since the beginning of human history. But, in modern society we can now pass
our whole lives without having to answer it.

We have lost the two behaviors which set early humans apart from other primates:
The systematic sharing of food and altruistic group defence. The earliest and
most basic definition community is the group of people you would both help feed
and help defend. True belonging requires sacrifice. Sacrifice gives a sense of
solidarity which is at the very core of what it means to be human.

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About the Authors

Sebastian Junger is the #1 New York Times Bestselling author of The Perfect
Storm, Fire, A Death in Belmont, War, and Tribe. As an award-winning journalist,
a contributing editor to Vanity Fair and a special correspondent at ABC News,
he has covered major international news stories around the world. He has
received both a National Magazine Award and a Peabody Award. Junger is
also a documentary filmmaker whose debut film “Restrepo”, a feature-length
documentary, was nominated for an Academy Award and won the Grand Jury
Prize at Sundance.

Junger has also written for magazines including Harper’s, The New York Times
Magazine, National Geographic Adventure, Outside and Men’s Journal. His
reporting on Afghanistan in 2000, profiling Northern Alliance leader Ahmed
Shah Massoud, who was assassinated days before 9/11, became the subject of
the National Geographic documentary “Into the Forbidden Zone”.

He lives in New York City and Cape Cod.

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About Simpleology Summaries

Books are important. Books entertain us, ignite our imagination, improve our ability to reason,
and help us discover ourselves. Most importantly, books impart wisdom - the progressive,
incremental wisdom upon which humanity has built itself.

But books do something else: they take time. Time to read and time to comprehend. Given we
are all busier than ever, it is no surprise book reading is in decline. Even if you are a committed
reader, there are so many powerful, life-changing books in print you’ll never find the time to
read them all. Imagine the wealth of knowledge you are missing out on.

What if there were an easier way?

What if you could read just a few pages but felt as if you had read the entire book?

Simpleology Summaries take those special books capable of transforming your life
and distill them into their most important ideas. More than that, we make those ideas easily
understandable and actionable in your daily life.

Further Reading
Juggernaut Academy - a Simpleology training system that habitualizes the mindset described in
Think and Grow Rich (and more) so it becomes an unshakable part of your identity.

Tribe by Sebastian Junger

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

Simpleology Summary of The 48 Laws of Power By Robert Greene

Simpleology Summary: Learned Optimism By Martin E. P. Seligman

Simpleology Summary: Psycho-Cybernetics by Dr. Maxwell Maltz

BONUS: Build Your Own Tribe

Collaborating with others When we work together, we can accomplish much more than we can
on our own. It also gives us a sense of belonging, a sense of tribe. Simpleology Projects was
created to allow collaboration is as it should be: simple, seamless, and meaningful. You can
begin exploring Simpleology Projects straight away, or read Mark Joyner’s blog introduction.

Use it to build your own tribe around any project you desire: raise money for charity, organize a
street event, exchange business ideas, build that family treehouse … anything which will bring
you closer to those around you.

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