Tribal Heritage

The History channel has an ongoing series called Gangland. After watching a few episodes, I was reminded how people are still very tribal in nature no matter how civilized the society. There's a running theme through these shows, a tendency for the disillusioned to identify with a group and, with that acceptance, the relinquishing of individualism in order to conform to that immediate group's culture, to be part of a family. In their need to conform to that family structure, the members will bypass their already fractured moral development to honor the group's simple moral code - survival and strength.