In this exciting book Michel Maffesoli argues that the conventional approaches to understanding solidarity and society are deeply flawed. He contends that mass culture has disintegrated and that today social existence is conducted through fragmented tribal groupings, organized around the catchwords, brand-names and sound-bites of consumer culture. The book provides a rich backcloth against which to consider the rise of `identity politics' and the `proliferation of lifestyle cultures'.

Foreword - Rob Shields
Masses or Tribes
By Way of Introduction
The Emotional Community
Research Arguments
The Underground >Sociality vs the Social
Tribalism
Polyculturalism
Of Proxemics
Appendix: The Thinking of the Public Square