Political Tribalism Research Articles

Intergroup Conflict Over Climate Change: Problems and Solutions

ABSTRACTGlobal progress in combatting climate change is being slowed by intergroup conflict and tribalism. Addressing the intergroup tensions of today is a pre‐requisite for avoiding violent intergroup tensions in the future, tensions that may threaten societal structures we currently take for granted. This paper highlights five sources of intergroup conflict that compromise humans’ ability to effectively and swiftly respond to climate change: political tribalism, populist suspicion of elites, regional differences within nations, international conflicts, and tensions between and within activist identities. We then draw on established and emerging social psychological theorising to describe five strategies for constructively managing this intergroup conflict: maintaining climate justice, reducing disinformation and silencing bad‐faith actors, maintaining cohesion among progressive forces, focusing on trusted messengers, and empathic communication. Throughout we underscore the extent to which policy making and strategic communication can play roles in depolarising debate about climate change.

Political tribalism, meritocracy, and human capital management in Kuwait’s diverse work setting

The complicated relationship between political tribalism, meritocracy, and human capital in Kuwait emerges as an important focus in the changing landscape of modern organizations. This paper carefully examines this complex relationship, demonstrating its significant implications for human capital management. Political tribalism, which is closely associated with power systems, has a noticeable impact on core human capital processes like hiring, training, and career advancement. In addition, the fundamental idea of a meritocracy promotes unbiased hiring practices by putting competence above affiliation. An in-depth understanding of the mediating role performed by human capital practices is necessary in order to effectively address complex political elements while firmly maintaining meritocratic values. The findings presented here apply to similar organizational situations other than Kuwait. The study provides firms with invaluable insights by revealing these complex links and encourages proactive actions to develop an open, equitable human capital strategy. It attempts to create an environment that encourages the development of human capital, the maintenance of a strong meritocratic system, and the effective mitigation of the negative effects of political tribalism.

‘Every adventure begins with a cup of coffee’: Black rifle coffee company, reactionary fandom, and the tactical body

This article examines the Black Rifle Coffee Company brand, its fans, and its connection to right-wing violence. By incorporating the literature on brand culture and the concepts and tools from fan studies, I show how Black Rifle merchandise develops into wearable symbols of white supremacy and reactionary politics celebrated by a fan culture and integrated into a tactical ensemble. While both Black Rifle’s promotional content and fans’ actions point to how capitalism provides a permission structure for white masculine supremacy, only by combining these approaches do we reveal the tactical body. I argue that the tactical body is a fannish embodiment of white supremacist conspiracy theories and a playful form of political engagement designed to actualize a revenge fantasy of insurrection. While I focus primarily on how Black Rifle fans play out their tactical canon in online and physical spaces, this case study points to a larger trend of tactical brands profiting from white male grievances and political tribalism.

Political Tribalism in Kuwait: The Shift of Badū from the Regime's Political Ally to Political Opposition

Addressing issues of political tribalism in Kuwait, the study reported here examined the political role of tribes in Kuwait, particularly to determine why badū tribespeople in Kuwait have shifted from being the regime's political ally to its political opponent. To that end, a survey questionnaire was created and distributed to 696 badū individuals living in Kuwait. The results suggest that most badū in Kuwait agree with the political opposition's agenda and feel excluded, marginalised, powerless, deprived of equal social justice, and deliberately targeted by certain local media networks. Furthermore, most badū sampled agreed that parliamentary elections are an effective way to exercise their political influence and that their tribes provide them with social protection as well as political power.

Tribalism in American Politics: Are Partisans Guilty of Double Standards?

Political tribalism has increased dramatically in recent years. We explored partisan double-standards of Democratic and Republican voters across both hypothetical and real-world scenarios. In Study 1, participants rated the perceived legitimacy of election outcomes in response to hypothetical and ambiguous results from the 2020 presidential election. In Study 2 Part 1, college students and Amazon Turk volunteers rated their support of real-world presidential policies and actions. All policies/actions were attributed to Trump or Obama though they actually occurred under both presidents. In Study 2 Part 2, participants rated how bigoted various statements were; we manipulated who the utterances were attributed to (Trump v. Bill Clinton or Trump v. Martin Luther King [MLK]). Generally, Republican ratings were more favorable when statements were attributed to Trump vs. Democratic leaders while the opposite is true of Democrats. Crucially, these biases exist when evaluating identical information. Republicans and Democrats had a very small and very large tendency, respectively, to view statements as more bigoted under Trump vs. MLK. To the degree that this study can answer the question about which side is more guilty of double-standards, our results provide tentative evidence that this occurs under Democrats more than Republicans, though this overall difference may obscure important moderators. Our data provide evidence for tribal loyalty which may have significant social and political ramifications.

The Politics of the Penis: Post-Apartheid Zulu Nationalism and Martial Masculinity, ca 1999 to 2018

ABSTRACT In 1989, Jean-François Bayart published the now foundational text, The State in Africa: The Politics of the Belly, introducing the Cameroonian idiom ‘la politique du ventre’ (the politics of the belly), which draws on the idea that having a belly in the African context connotes not only wealth but also power. Lynn Thomas adopted Bayart’s idiom for her Politics of the Womb (2003, 3–4), flipping the idiom to explore ‘the particular capacities and powers attached to the female belly or the womb to demonstrate the centrality of reproductive struggles to African history’. While the politics of the belly confronts the propensity of political figures to hoard resources and the politics of the womb demonstrated young women’s autonomy over their own bodies, the politics of the penis expose how former South African president Jacob Zuma utilised his masculinity as a tool to fortify power and material wealth. From this vantage point, this paper explores the ‘politics of the penis’ that characterised Zuma’s presidency, deploying this phallic idiom to examine the consolidation of Zulu political tribalism, Zuma’s public displays of masculinit(ies) and heavily sexualised politics.

For a Research Agenda on Negative Politics

This thematic issue deals with the “negative” side of politics, more specifically with dynamics of political aggressiveness and ideological opposition in voters and elites. Why do candidates “go negative” on their rivals? To what extent are voters entrenched into opposing camps parted by political tribalism? And are these dynamics related to the (dark) personality of candidates and the expression of emotions in voters? A series of contributions written by leading and emerging scholars provide novel and groundbreaking empirical evidence along three main lines: (a) the evolution, causes, and consequences of political attacks and incivility by political elites; (b) the drivers and dimensions of affective polarization and negative voting in the public; and (c) the dynamics of candidate’s personality and perceptions, the affective roots of attitudes and behaviors. This thematic issue aims at setting the stage for a new research agenda on negative politics, able to generate new insights by triangulating evidence and approaches from strands of literature that have mostly evolved on separate tracks.

Does outcome bias trump political tribalism?

Does outcome bias trump political tribalism?

Algorithmic Political Bias—an Entrenchment Concern

This short commentary on Peters (Philosophy & Technology 35, 2022) identifies the entrenchment of political positions as one additional concern related to algorithmic political bias, beyond those identified by Peters. First, it is observed that the political positions detected and predicted by algorithms are typically contingent and largely explained by “political tribalism”, as argued by Brennan (2016). Second, following Hacking (1999), the social construction of political identities is analyzed and it is concluded that algorithmic political bias can contribute to such identities. Third, following Nozick (1989), it is argued that purist political positions may stand in the way of the pursuit of all worthy values and goals to be pursued in the political realm and that to the extent that algorithmic political bias entrenches political positions, it also hinders this healthy “zigzag of politics”.

RETHINKING THE LIBERIAN PREDICAMENT IN ANTI-BLACK TERMS

Liberia’s protracted civil conflict was sustained for a period of fourteen years (1989–2003), killing approximately 250,000 Liberians and displacing half of the population. Liberia’s war, like other contemporary African conflicts, has been persistently represented as an example of wanton violence, political tribalism, chaos, or an amalgamation of such elements. Founded in 1822, the Colony of Liberia was annexed by the American Colonization Society to expatriate and colonize “free” negros and their descendants on the coast of West Africa. “Re-colonization,” as it was recognized by the ruling US Southern class, was rendered a compromise between the absolute abolition of the transatlantic slave trade and perpetual black servitude. Yet, repatriation was treacherously crafted by abolitionists and their pro-slavery contemporaries, alike, as a fugitive project, an opportunity for “free” blacks to experiment with emancipation and take refuge from the sociopolitical and economic conditions which amounted to what was effectively slavery by another name. The rhetorical propagation of the West African settlement as a pre-racial site – of sorts – in which stolen peoples could escape the violence of American racialism has made articulable contemporary theorizations of the Liberian civil war as a paradigmatic example of the negro’s irresponsible experimentations with freedom. The following paper offers a re-contemplation of Liberian historiographical accounts, one that attends to the racialized global orders against which this national crisis has developed and limns the impossibility of freedom in the afterlife of slavery, where anti-black terror is not only temporally unbounded but transgeographical.

Representation of Political Tribalism Mentality in Underdevelopment Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province

Representation of Political Tribalism Mentality in Underdevelopment Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province

Mobile Internet and the Rise of Political Tribalism in Europe

Mobile Internet and the Rise of Political Tribalism in Europe

Supplemental Material for Does Outcome Bias Trump Political Tribalism?

Supplemental Material for Does Outcome Bias Trump Political Tribalism?

Religion as Political Tribalism

Abstract Is religion a form of political tribalism? Conventional wisdom suggests it is. Discussion of religion and American politics generally focuses on the “God Gap”—the tendency for religious Americans to vote Republican, while the non-religious vote Democratic. However, there is also reason to argue that religion cannot be reduced to political tribalism. The God Gap is found mostly among white voters; among people of color, religiosity is a far weaker predictor of the vote. Even among white voters, the size of the God Gap varies across different religious traditions. Furthermore, there is more nuance to the non-religious population than suggested by the standard account of the God Gap. When the analysis includes the full scope of the American religious landscape, religion is not as “tribal” as conventional wisdom suggests.

Partisan political connections, ethnic tribalism, and firm performance

This paper investigates the impact of partisan political connections and ethnic tribalism on firm performance in a hyper-partisan political environment. Although existing literature generally shows that political connections improve firm performance, we argue that under the theory of electoral competition, political connections can be a double-edged sword because of the tension of partisan politics. Hence, we expect that changes in government can affect firm performance. Using a unique dataset from Nigeria, we find that political connections are valuable when a firm's patron party is in power, whereas they are detrimental to firm value when their patron party is in opposition. Furthermore, we find that CEO ethnic tribal affiliation with the President improves firm performance even when the firm's patron party is in opposition. This paper extends the literature on political connections and helps managers and policymakers understand the timely use of political connections in a hyper-partisan environment.

International Travel and Coronavirus: A Very Early USA-based Study

ABSTRACT Tourism and politics are symbiotic. This research, conducted before the impacts of COVID-19 were evident to most Americans, provides insight into the influence one’s political persuasion has upon their view toward travel issues related to the disease. The key finding: political tribalism was highly evident, with Republicans, the more conservative USA political party, significantly more supportive of closing the country’s borders to those visiting from places where the virus was apparent than were Democratic respondents. Republicans were also considerably less supportive of governmental financial support to hospitality and tourism providers negatively impacted by the then evolving pandemic. Documenting this early glimpse is valuable, helping us better prepare for similar episodes that may follow by depoliticizing actions that are based on health science.

Tribalization of politics in authoritarian regimes: Analysis of the link between political tribalism and right-wing authoritarianism in Cameroon

Tribalization of politics in authoritarian regimes: Analysis of the link between political tribalism and right-wing authoritarianism in Cameroon

Differences in Reactionary Thought

In understanding how the United States reached its current political tribalism, multiple perspectives attempt to understand and convey their views. What was the critical juncture at which our society began to decay? Is the American situation better now than in the past? David Frum’s How We Got Here: The 70s, takes on a bleak yet well-rounded conservative approach in establishing the reasoning for the monumental changes that have occurred across society. Frum while negative of the direction of society and politics allows for some positive interpretations towards historical change. Christopher Caldwell’s The Age of Entitlement attempts to answer and evaluate some of the same questions which are presented by Frum. Caldwell, however, takes a much more negative view of the direction of social and political change in the United States since the 1960s. Their negative views regarding the modern historical trajectory of the United States align however, they disagree on which major point of change initiated the overall downfall.

Battle for Britain: Analyzing Events as Drivers of Political Tribalism in Twitter Discussions of Brexit

In the aftermath of the 2016 referendum on European Union (EU) membership, Britain was divided into identity groups (or tribes) of Leavers and Remainers. In this study, we investigate how Brexit tribalism—in the form of outgroup derogation—has unfolded over time on Twitter. We analyze data from 32 months of discussions (n = 9,027,822), using identity‐based keywords as proxies for tribalism. First, we characterize the nature of the discussion by comparing language use patterns between tweets containing Brexiteer/Remainer and Brextremist/Remoaner keywords. We find that Brextremist/Remoaner are more commonly used in a derogatory way. We also find that all four group identity keywords are used more frequently over time, suggesting an increase in tribal interactions. Finally, we find evidence of a relationship between real‐life Brexit events and spikes in tribal responses online. These findings provide compelling insights into the extent of tribal political behavior on social media. They are significant for furthering our understanding of tribalism as a central feature of information warfare campaigns that aim to divide societies.

미국 유권자의 당파적 정체성과 정치적 부족주의

미국 유권자의 당파적 정체성과 정치적 부족주의