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lumpyplume 's review for:
Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging
by Sebastian Junger
This was worth the read for me - great moderate perspective. Sometimes the way he used data made me uncomfortable though. Junger was not interested in writing an academic book, and caveats his entire work with that, but at the same time, he attempts to use so much data to add gravitas to his thesis. My biggest takeaway - the reminder about the ways in which we are biologically primates. I also loved the way he explained how psychologists understand PTSD, like depression and grief, to be exacerbated by particular factors, but that PTSD tends to diminish with time.
As to data -- there was one interesting parallel with a stat used in Isabel Wilkerson's Caste. Higher educated people who reside in the US who identify as "Hispanic" have higher rates of depression than recently immigrated individuals for whom English is a second language. (loosely speaking - not exact quote on the study outcome). From this, Junger draws the conclusion that the close-knit community environment that often is incumbent with a migrant status makes people feel more connected. That's quite a logical jump from that information. Wilkerson's Caste draws on several studies that link overall negative health effects to caste differences, e.g. if you discount wealth, occupation, etc., there are many negative health effects to simply having a status in the US as being perceived as Black. Wilkerson then uses this same stat to explain how English speakers, more integrated into professional American society, likely are impacted by microaggressions that make them feel less integrated -- i.e., the difference in depression rates is not purely the difference of internal joy from connection with others (in a migrant community), but there's also the impact of interactions with greater society that can make us experience stigmatic harm to such a non-negligible level that it can measurably affect health. Likely both are factors, but neither Wilkerson nor Junger discuss this data in relation to one another's thesis.
Misc:
- Junger's logical leaps get especially dicey and unjustified in his discussions of sexual divisions in risk-taking. See p. 56 ("Given the disproportionately high value of female reproduction to any society, risking male lives to save female lives makes enormous evolutionary sense.").
- Nit and quibble - Junger described the 2008 financial crisis as the result of "illegal and unwise banking practice" - I would say it was the result of legal banking practices that were wise from the banks' and particular investors' perspectives, who had great personal outcomes. The 2008 crisis shined a light on things that should be illegal.
- Junger could have also improved how he discusses different Native American societal organizations, because there is a much bigger variety than his anecdotes elide. There were monarchies on this continent, Mr. Junger!
As to data -- there was one interesting parallel with a stat used in Isabel Wilkerson's Caste. Higher educated people who reside in the US who identify as "Hispanic" have higher rates of depression than recently immigrated individuals for whom English is a second language. (loosely speaking - not exact quote on the study outcome). From this, Junger draws the conclusion that the close-knit community environment that often is incumbent with a migrant status makes people feel more connected. That's quite a logical jump from that information. Wilkerson's Caste draws on several studies that link overall negative health effects to caste differences, e.g. if you discount wealth, occupation, etc., there are many negative health effects to simply having a status in the US as being perceived as Black. Wilkerson then uses this same stat to explain how English speakers, more integrated into professional American society, likely are impacted by microaggressions that make them feel less integrated -- i.e., the difference in depression rates is not purely the difference of internal joy from connection with others (in a migrant community), but there's also the impact of interactions with greater society that can make us experience stigmatic harm to such a non-negligible level that it can measurably affect health. Likely both are factors, but neither Wilkerson nor Junger discuss this data in relation to one another's thesis.
Misc:
- Junger's logical leaps get especially dicey and unjustified in his discussions of sexual divisions in risk-taking. See p. 56 ("Given the disproportionately high value of female reproduction to any society, risking male lives to save female lives makes enormous evolutionary sense.").
- Nit and quibble - Junger described the 2008 financial crisis as the result of "illegal and unwise banking practice" - I would say it was the result of legal banking practices that were wise from the banks' and particular investors' perspectives, who had great personal outcomes. The 2008 crisis shined a light on things that should be illegal.
- Junger could have also improved how he discusses different Native American societal organizations, because there is a much bigger variety than his anecdotes elide. There were monarchies on this continent, Mr. Junger!