Thinking About Tribes

Lately I have been thinking about tribes (oh dear - remember the Gumby men off Monty Python? "My Brain Hurts!!")

At the dawn of mankind, we were all tribal.
In the 21st Century, the West (i.e. those of European descent) are "a million miles away" from Tribes (although cf the Yugoslavian Civil War), whereas in Pacific and African cultures, for example, Tribes are still a very big part of social organisation.
In the west (and possibly other places such as Japan?), our movement away from genetic tribes has left a gap in our humanity that seeks some kind of substitute.
These substitute tribes are things such as clubs, societies, churches, sports teams, choirs, companies, unions, etc.
Things that were offered by genetic tribes are offered by these groups now.

Positive Tribe Features:
Extended family
Belonging
Sense of past, present, future, unified
Strong cultural identity
Support

Negative Tribe Features:
Limited Individuality
Negative social inhibition
Hostility to/fear of other tribes
Territorialism
Limited exploration

Well, those are some thoughts to feed back on.

Apologies if it comes across as a lameman (rather than layman} anthropology 101-type exercise!

G.