They were seen as isolated, though tribes have always bartered with outsiders and often commanded large territories through which they had easy access. Tribal societies were not primitive precursors of the modern state, but always existed together with other complex forms of society as an alternative way of life. Anthropology tended to create an image of a tribal world consisting of a mosaic of self- sufficient communities before the intrusion of European influences. Whether tribes existed as forms of social organization, except in relation to national political organizations, is debated. Geographical boundaries are important to the concept of tribalism, which is now used to designate a demarcated group with a common ethnic identity.
Tribalism is a form of identity connected with geographical and ethnic attributes of a tribe.
Whether real or invented, tribalism has now become a way of making a statement about identity, in the face of attempts to control or coerce on the part of the state. Ethnicity Bloomsbury Guide to Human Thought 2. Lorius, Cassandra CL Bloomsbury Guide to Human Thought 3. Tribal Religion Bloomsbury Guide to Human Thought 4. Nationalism Penguin Dictionary of Sociology 5.