Our New Tribes
As neighborhoods and schools become more diverse, marriages become more mixed and social hierarchies break down, old lines are getting blurry.
They call themselves a "nation" and gather in the fall or early winter, usually on Sundays. The faithful wear clothing emblazoned with the names of heroes; they pray by twirling a sacred talisman, a gold-and-black terry-cloth hand towel, at times achieving dervish-like ecstasy. I was among them on a recent Sunday at the Pour House in Washington, D.C., three blocks from the U.S. Capitol: hundreds of Pittsburgh Steelers fans, cheering at ear-splitting volume, in a crowd composed of myriad races, ethnicities and hometowns, many far beyond western Pennsylvania. They shared tales of past gatherings in, say, London (or Altoona), and vows of more, at future Super Bowls. "This fulfills a kind of tribal, religious appetite," said Matt Stelmack, 32, a political scientist who, as it happens, studies identity politics.
"Steeler Nation" is one of the planet's most populous and intense sports-fan cohorts. There are many others, of course, and have been for many decades. But such groupings—what might be called "voluntary tribes"—are assuming a new importance in America. As neighborhoods and schools become more diverse, marriages become more mixed and social hierarchies break down, old lines are getting blurry. Voluntary tribes are a way of recreating a sense of community.
More than "associations"—the kind Tocqueville noticed were so numerous in America—these are emotionally intense affinity groups based on shared aims, obsessions or political crusades, not on DNA. Fueled by the Internet, according to Princeton historian Julian E. Zelizer, they're "filling the gap of the neighborhood institutions of the 20th century." The ravages of breast cancer have created several such communities. The Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, featuring marchers of all ages, sizes and descriptions, has drawn 100,000 participants. The act of marching together (often, at first, as strangers) engenders friendships, caregiving circles and other charity work in widening gyres. "The march itself is a symbol of joining a tribe of concern," says Barbara Thompson, a child-development specialist in Washington who became a walk fundraiser.
In politics, the Obama campaign is the epitome of the voluntary tribe. Traditional parties once generated deep, tribelike emotion, but they tended to be assemblages based on race, ethnicity and region. Obama's tribe, by contrast, was founded on ideas—ending a war, changing the ways of Washington. "We cut across all the old categories in amazing ways," says Meredith Segal, who founded the first student site for Obama on Facebook in 2006. "An engineering major from MIT suddenly had a close tie, through Obama, to a fashion major from Texas." It won't be easy to maintain that fervor. In football, all you have to do is win the next game. In the presidency, you have to save the world.
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Howard Fineman is Newsweek's Senior Washington Correspondent and Columnist, senior editor and deputy Washington bureau chief. He is the author of "Living Politics," a column that began on MSNBC.COM and Newsweek.com and that now also appears in the print magazine. An award-winning reporter and writer, Fineman also is an analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, appearing regularly on "Countdown with Keith Olbermann," "Hardball with Chris Matthews" and "TODAY." The author of scores of Newsweek cover stories, Fineman's work has appeared as well in The New York Times, The Washington Post and The New Republic. His 2008 national best-selling book, "The Thirteen American Arguments," was released in paperback by Random House in the spring of 2009.
One of the nation's leading political reporters, Fineman has interviewed every major presidential candidate from (then-vice president) George H.W. Bush in 1985 to (then senator) Barack Obama early and often in the 2008 campaign cycle. His current work focuses on the Obama Administration and its top officials, as well as on Congress and politics throughout the country. Although based in Washington, Fineman travels widely in the U.S. and has covered politics and other events in 49 of the 50 states.
Fineman's work has produced many milestones and awards. A cover story in November 2001 featured President George W. Bush's first extensive interview after 9/11. Another cover, "Bush and God," was part of a series of articles that won the 2003 National Magazine Award for General Excellence. His reporting has helped Newsweek win many honors from the Magazine Publishers Association and the American Journalism Review. Other awards include a "Page One" from the Headliners Club of New York, a "Silver Gavel" from the American Bar Association and a "Deadline Club" from the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ). In 2006 he received the Alumni Award from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.
As a reporter and writer, Fineman ranges widely. Besides campaign-year covers, other projects have included: race and politics, the impact of digital technology on society, the influence of Hollywood on politics, the rise of the religious right and of conservative talk radio. He has interviewed business leaders such as George Soros, Bill Gates, Steve Case and Robert Rubin and entertainment figures such as Warren Beatty, Jane Fonda and Jay Leno.
Although now under exclusive television contract to NBC, Fineman over the years has appeared on major public affairs shows, such as Nightline, Face the Nation, Fox News Sunday, Larry King Live, Charlie Rose and the NewsHour. He was a regular panelist on Washington Week in Review on PBS (1983-95) and on CNN's Capital Gang Sunday (1995-98). He worked with Ted Koppel on Nightline specials, and has been a guest on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report."
A native of Pittsburgh, Fineman began his career at The Courier-Journal in Louisville, covering the environment, the coal industry and state politics before joining the newspaper's Washington bureau in 1978. He moved to Newsweek in 1980, was named chief political correspondent in 1984, deputy Washington bureau chief in 1993, senior editor in 1995 and senior Washington correspondent and columnist in 2008.
Fineman holds an A.B., Phi Beta Kappa, from Colgate, an M.S. in journalism from Columbia and a J.D. from the Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville. His legal education included a year as a visiting student at the Georgetown University Law Center. He received Watson and Pultizer Traveling Fellowships for study in Europe, Russia and the Middle East, and has traveled to more than 40 countries, among them China, Vietnam, Japan, Ukraine, Israel, Turkey and the West Bank Palestinian Territories.
Fineman is married to Amy L. Nathan, a senior counsel at the Federal Communications Commission. They live in Washington with their two children, Meredith and Nicholas.
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