What the author is describing here is just standard human group-identity stuff. It goes by many names - tribalism, ethnocentrism, nationalism, othering, and so

What the author is describing here is just standard human group-identity stuff. It goes by many names - tribalism, ethnocentrism, nationalism, othering, and so on. I like tribalism[1], because in my (not as informed as I wish, but still somewhat studied) opinion this phenomenon is something that has been with humanity forever. "civilization" and modern life has perhaps allowed people to be able to identify with several tribes at once, but the general structure of tribal membership is still the same - strong loyalty/fealty to the group you are in, and lesser consideration for other groups in the same sphere. Lesser regard is true of both "friends" and "foes", with the former being someone to help but after "my tribe" is taken care of, and the foe just being "wrong" or some sort of inhuman. Sometimes these are nested and complex, but the pattern is still the same. For example: my startup is the most important. Other startups in the same space are bad for me. But at a higher level, SV startups are the good ones, we need to get all the good programmers from big companies and startups in those "lesser" places like Michigan or New York, those poor folks are just deceiving themseselves. Or take for example the classic plot device in military movies: Our unit is the most important to us. The rest of the guys in our army are people we help, but when it comes down to it, we worry about our own first, you can't fully trust the Army. Then, if it's convenient, worry about the allied units, and the enemies just aren't human, so don't bother. Similar tribal behaviors can be seen in Politics, religion, intra-corporate divisions/units, sports, sciences, hobbies, operating systems, and on and on. It is useful to be aware of this, because it seems to me a lot of the more effective people seem to understand this, at least intuitively, and know how to break down or take advantage of such "tribes" to get things done. It also helps to understand this when dealing with seemingly illogical behavior, when looked at in light of "What tribal lines/mores/etc are being violated here?" these behaviours start making sense, and can be dealt with. Similarly, I find that when I am opposed to something, or pro- something, but can't necessarily place why, it comes down to tribal issues frequently (and I try to avoid these things! Other times it is just preference or some actually good reason I just haven't quite figured out yet... the good old hunch, but I'm wary of those too). It seems to be something built into humanity - be it just a common social structure, or a stable emergent behavior, or something built into the human understanding via brain structure or whatever. [1] Unfortunately the wikipedia article still seems to reflect an older definition of tribalism, that hasn't quite caught up with usages of the term in the last 30-50 years, hence my discussion of other names for this pattern.