Identity Politics and Tribalism: The New Culture Wars

by Nikos Sotirakopoulos

Has the world gone mad?'…this is a question that we’ve heard time and again during the last years. Everyone is convinced that something is wrong with politics, the culture, and our society, but what exactly is the problem and how can we overcome it?This book will guide the reader through a journey that will connect the dots on the various fronts of the culture wars. There is a thread that links together the various expressions of group and identity conflicts in today’s from Left to Right, from Social Justice Warriors to Trumpites, from feminism to the manosphere, and from critical race theorists to white nationalists.By the end of this book, readers will understand not only the root problem poisoning our culture and society, but also how to rise above it both in our private lives and as citizens.

Genres: Politics

273 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 24, 2021

Reviews

[Ron Housley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Identity Politics & Tribalism — The New Culture Wars
Nikos Sotirakopoulos ©2021 223 pages

A short book report by Ron Housley (1.3.2022)

I was drawn to this book because of its likelihood of shedding light on the matter of how “critical Theory” is impacting our culture today. Nikos Sotirakopoulos holds a Ph.D. in something called “Political Sociology” and his identification of “tribalism” as part of the problem set this title apart.

I just finished Herbert Marcuse’s “One Dimensional Man” and the current volume is precisely 423.4% more intelligible and completely devoid of Marcuse’s neologisms and unbearably abstruse and oblique writing style. Sotirakopoulos is straight-forward and clear — a compliment which will be considered a criticism by academics, since clarity will be falsely equated with shallowness of content.

The book is more of a survey of trends in the culture, some of which are aligned with the critical Theory movement. There is something of an intricacy to how the various cultural trends have come to influence others, and how some have become dominant while others have been marginalized.

The first thing I would look for in a book of this type is an index; but alas, there was no index. We were given only a bibliography, to show us the range of sources the author consulted. There was more than one occasion where I would have appreciated an index reference.
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In my walk down “critical Theory” lane, one of the stumbling blocks has been the widespread animosity toward objectivity from those promoting the Theory. When cornered with uncomfortable questions, the Theory promoters nearly always resort to dismissing objective truth and objectivity as unattainable. But their problem is always that they seem to be claiming objectivity for their claim that there is no objectivity.

In part because of the discomfort over claiming that there is no objective truth, the academics promoting critical Theory resort to made-up expressions. Sotirakopoulos tries to clarify some of expressions: “instrumental reason,” “lived experience” and “free from external reality.” These are among ones which have become buzz words in the critical Theory’s attempt to promote itself.

The promoters slide from “reason as objective” to “reason as instrumental” all the way to “reason as subjective,” where “instrumental” disguises their embrace of the non-objective. It seems to me that the explicit rejection of objectivity (and of objective truth) is at the center of the culture’s current direction.

This book makes the point that “the loss of confidence in reason” is what drives many people to the “identity politics…(of) clinging to a group.” (p. 45)

It is further pointed out that “…both the left and the right (are) becoming less confident about their philosophical and political principles and thus finding existential conformity in smaller issues” such as their identity group. (p. 72)

So there you have it: reason and objectivity are denigrated by the academics, by the thinking elite, by the professors; and the resulting uncertainty causes a growth of identity groups as the new frame of reference, to take the place of reason itself.

This was the take-away message for me in the first 100 pages.
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The entire postmodernist critical Theory movement continues to perplex those of us out here in the great unwashed. What seems most obvious is the organized thrust against the individual (and against individualism) in order to promote a system supporting a group (a collective) — which in the end always turns out to be minorities.

The critical Theory scholars are uniformly anti-individual and pro-collective. These scholars are in their own “global battle against capitalism,” the system that aligns with protecting the individual. There is nothing more hated in their worldview than a society of individuals, of individual achievement. They dismiss all conversation of meritocracy as a smokescreen for promoting White Supremacy (p. 141). Anything promoting the individual is considered by them as promoting the group that the individual happens to belong to; and they do not allow for the notion of a minority individual succeeding in a contest of merit.

The critical Theory landscape is littered with absurdities that develop naturally once objectivity is abandoned: consider “language is violence;” or “violence is whatever I feel it is” (p 121); or, “to be trained in critical methods” is to believe that “black people or minorities cannot be racist, as they lack power” (p. 136).

Critical race “scholars,” indeed!

Critical race scholars may be at the forefront of the culture’s turn toward racism; they are certainly at the forefront of the war against capitalism.

My own goal here is to grasp the role of critical (race) Theory in the bigger picture of our current cultural decline before it’s too late to reverse directions. The appeal of “identity politics,” with its attendant tribalism, seems to be the appeal to racism itself; and it is today’s appeal to embrace racism that I am hoping to undermine ----- by first coming to an understanding of the dynamics at play all around me. There must be a way to ignite an appeal against critical (race) Theory and in favor of a rational alternative. Nikos Sotirakopoulos has assembled some of the elements that will enable us to see the big picture, and then ultimately to spark the great reversal. Nice job, Nikos.

[Science and Fiction · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an important book that makes some very perceptive observations. My first impression was that this book would be especially important for American readers because they seem to be at the center of the maelstrom of irrational identity outrage. But my second realization was that as a centrist independent I have no reason to be defensive about any of the pointed analysis that Sotirakopoulos makes, whereas those whose views are avowedly Leftist or Rightist might not be too keen about some of the uncomfortable truths. Not that Sotirakapoulos offers direct criticism himself, because the evidence speaks for itself. Since many Americans would dismiss this book at the first sign of anything critical to their Leftist or Rightist positions, I think the more likely audience would be European readers who would like to have some insight as to what the hell is going on in America.

I’ve read other books on this topic by Frank Furedi (100 Years of Identity Crisis), James Hunter (Culture Wars), and others that brush up against the topic of Tribalism such as Thomas Sowell’s book on conservative vs. liberal worldviews (A Conflict of Visions), Jonathan Haidt’s psychological analysis of certitude (The Righteous Mind), Samuel Huntington’s broader civilizational view (Clash of Civilizations), or Emmanuel Todd’s viewpoint from familial and cultural imprint (Explanation of Ideology). But if you are really interested in the current fracturing and splintering of groups on both the Left and Right to include the separate issues of ideology and social identity, this is the best I’ve read.

I had never heard of the author until I clicked on a random YouTube video of him speaking in Tel Aviv, the gist of which was a rallying cry in support of democracy. I liked what he said enough to order the book. The book is especially important for how it clarifies definitions and the how and why these terms have become distorted. Key chapters and talking points are: What is Tribalism? The New Left. The New Right. Free Speech. The New Racism. The Gender Wars (Feminism vs. the Manosphere). I think it is especially important for people of my Boomer generation to realize that the very definitions that we grew up with have completely changed.

Sotirakopoulos has made some valuable observations about how various factions interact and shape the current social dynamic. But I don’t think a few positive reviews on Goodreads are going to make much difference in terms of readers discovering this book. His voice of reason really needs a larger platform promoted by some podcaster who has millions of followers. It’s a matter of critical mass if reason is to form a bulwark against the swelling tide of insanity.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genealogy of tribalism

I enjoyed this a lot. I bought this to get more insight on the deterministic ideologies within the manosphere. I did not expect such a thorough, top-down look on tribalism and the culture war spanning the past century in particular. Necessary perspective. Hopeful outlook at the end.