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How "Tribal" are we?

So after several noted books about human "tribalism" have come out, identifying the tribe(s) you belong to has become all the rage, I thought it might be interesting to discuss how tribal we as self identified audiophiles have become.  Originally aimed at corporate organizations, the concept has branched out to include societal groups that either we identify with or others do it for us.  The political applications are obvious....but it got me thinking about tribalism in the audiophile world.  It wouldn't be a tough intellectual exercise for us to readily recognize the existence of the tribal mentality in our chosen hobby.

Tubes or solid state, bipolar or mosfets, stock or designer fuses, wire (wow think of all the "sub-tribes"), moving coil or moving magnet, electrostatic or moving coil speakers and lest we not mention analog or digital, to condition power or not, etcetera. 

After participating in many threads here, it does seem that many of us if not all, to some extent, identify with members of these and other tribes within audiodom.

Honestly, what made me connect tribalism to audio is the controversy? over Tekton speakers and whether or not those identifying with that tribe are real audiophiles or just pretenders because "speakers that inexpensive can't be up to our audiophile standards" (say that out loud with your best Thurston Howell III accent!)

I've never heard any Tekton model but I'm not going to exclude them from audiophilia out of hand.  I for one, would love to listen through a pair of Double Impacts to see what designer Eric Alexander has been able to bring to market at such a modest price.  If they are as good as many owners have attested to here then, as Joe Walsh would say, "Welcome to the Club"!

Back to the overarching topic:  tribalism.  Picking on myself, I would belong to the moving coil speaker tribe, the modification tribe, and moving coil cartridge tribe as well as the Vandersteen tribe.  I think there is something to be said of this communitarian identity that we humans like to adopt for ourselves and others.

One last thought;  when does a tribe remain a tribe and when does it cross the line to become a gang?


128x128hifiman5
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,615 posts
 
@hifiman5, your question on tribalism, it's roots, applications (attribuitons?) and most obviously, the political angle, haven't escaped my attention all while reading threads, posts, and posters here on Audiogon. 

The similarities to politics is painfully obvious as that is what's captured our nations attention as of late, but I don't want to go there either because, tribalism, and what would ensue. 

So, my tribalism is rather simple. I tend to side with nice people, regardless of what type of amp, speaker, cable or tweek they enjoy. This hobby is so vast and has such overlap that I couldn't begin to narrow it down. I have preferences, but I can't bring myself to go against someone else just because of what and how they listen to music. That would mean I would have to succumb to a lessor version of myself, and that would be when I cross over to gang status.

That's me, in a nutshell, a member of the nice and simple tribe. 😀

All the best,
Nonoise


hifiman5's avatar
hifiman5 OP
1,826 posts
 
@nonoise   A great posture to adopt!  I'm sure you've noticed that it is hard at times not to let the defense of one's tribe take us down the road of us against them.  Like you said that can be the dangerous path toward degenerating into a gang.  Perhaps most important is advocating for the positions embraced by your tribe rather than attempting to tear down those who see/hear things differently.
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,615 posts
 
@hifiman5 , That's some rather nice insight. Accentuate the positive and play down the negative. Life is just too short.

All the best,
Nonoise
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