8 Tribes: The Hidden Classes of New Zealand
8 Tribes calls an end to the myth of the “typical New Zealander” and gives us a new vocabulary to talk about New Zealand in the twenty first century. This snapshot of contemporary New Zealand explores our unspoken class system and the hidden social boundaries that separate us from each other.
On the same day I stumbled across this attractively-designed book in Unity, hottieperm stepped in to point out that it was, perhaps, unwise for the authors make quite so prominent use of the word ‘tribe’ to denote a lifestyle/values category. Quite apart from the fact that (as hottie p points out) NZ already has an important set of tribes, the word isn’t even well-deployed on its own terms. Clearly intended to echo the Wired-crowd’s adoption of the word ‘tribe’ to mean a community formed around a shared cultural interest set, the word is here used in a way neo-tribalists wouldn’t understand. (A throwaway comment on the 8 Tribes site that suggests you can change your tribal allegiance for 3 weeks at Christmas is really quite mind-boggling.)
In fact, there’s another word that fits this whole system rather better: stereotypes. The book presents eight stereotypes and calls them ‘tribes’. Like all stereotypes, the eight “tribes” have a superficial, prima facie legitimacy that gets them just far enough to start causing trouble. And like all stereotypes, when you look at them with a critical mindset, they collapse entirely. Luckily, the grandiose marketing language is just marketing. This isn’t going to be the new language for understanding New Zealand, and these aren’t the social boundaries that matter.
This isn’t meant to be a big hate-on for 8 Tribes. I don’t hold any malice for the book. I just think it’s really very silly, as if it was all just a livejournal meme that somehow found itself in a respectable bookshop despite being created by a Mountain-Dew-fuelled teenage girl between bouts of Hermione/Draco slashfic. And I think that New Zealanders, by and large, think the same, or will soon enouigh. So I anticipate the swift disappearance of the 8 Tribes idea from the great New Zealand conversation.
I skimmed their website the other day. While their basic tribal descriptions feel wrong/lacking in some important way, without actually reading the full explanation of what they are on about it is hard to tell for sure. Maybe they have subtribes? 😛
But since I have used the term tribe in my own writing to describe certain emerging social trends, I definitely think the way they are using it is stupid, or at least, not particularly useful.
Maybe I am just completely lacking in self-awareness, but at least from the brief descriptions I don’t seem to exist… though i do drive a station-wagon and my possessions have the kind of randomness you get when almost everything you own is a charitable gift from friends and family, but hey…
Seems pretty silly to me, but what would I know about culture?
Karen: I’d take lack of existence as a positive sign. Much more interesting than fitting into a tribe, far as I’m concerned!
They even have Tribe Profiler, which reads very much like an OKCupid quiz, right down to wanting to know your age and gender.
I thought it was odd claiming to represent all of New Zealand when they’re naming most of their tribes after Auckland suburbs. It seems a little blinkered.
“They tend to be highly sensate and internally focussed – hedonists, or spiritual journeyers, fitness fanatics or adrenaline junkies. Many Kiwis join the Raglan tribe for three weeks at Christmas.”
Er, from what I understand of the Jungian theory on personality types, a sensate hedonist is the diametric opposite of an internally focused spiritual journeyer.
This theory is pretty silly.
Though if it doesn’t fit with Jungian theory on anything I wouldn’t take that as meaningful.
As for the book, a cursory glance at the website makes it look like a second-rate magazine article blown up into a book – by and large a good description of the current state of non-fiction publishing. This particular book ought to have been one of those front-page space-fillers the Listener churns out during summer.
Andrew: You still read the Listener?
(perhaps not, because this tribe stuff isn’t just what they’d churn out over summer – it’s what they churn out in every issue now).
Has anyone actually read this book? I just read it and it seems pretty on the button. At least it;s honest about it’s pop-sociology roots – not trying to be pseudo intellectual like Mr “Jungian personality types” (get into this century brother) Check out the Grey Lynn tribe – who “make an amazing playground then ban the kids from playing in it because they haven’t got a saefty plan”… ahhh we all know one or two of them
Although for once saying something in “defence” of Jung, I think he was honest enough about his own pop-cultural roots to state that his theory of the anima/animus was inspired by H Rider Haggard’s novel “She”. This goes a long way to explaining why Jungian theory is deeply reactionary, racist, mysognynist and homophobic.
“And I think that New Zealanders, by and large, think the same, or will soon enouigh. So I anticipate the swift disappearance of the 8 Tribes idea from the great New Zealand conversation.”
While the book may be silly, I’d hate to think that we all think the same! It infuriates me when someone claims that “real kiwis” love the outdoors, big cars and sports. At least the book acknowledges our differences, even if it does so in a very lightweight manner. The notion of inner Wellington as a Grey Lynn/Cuba St enclave (http://wellurban.blogspot.com/2007/01/welcome-to-grey-lynn-south.html) makes more sense to me than assuming that we’re anti-intellectual, anti-urban blokes in black singlets.
My guess is that they called it tribes because class doesn’t sell, and tribalism is more-yuh know-ethnic! I suspect there are many more diverse groups throughout NZ society (including most of our recent migrants).
This socio-pop literature is firmly in the area of market research segmentation -what are the attitudes that drive consumer purchasing decisions. Obviously surfboards, fishing gear, and the SUV/old Landrover goes down well with the Raglan crowd;and you can probably sell a getaway weekend to a rural heath spa ,or a case of good Pinot Noir to Grey Lynn or Remuera types if you market it right.
What I want to know are who are the sad types who collect and use flybuys? and who are the bastards driving up house prices in search of capital gains, affluent consumption etc? And can they be nueutered?