# Quote — Nicholas Wade, A Troublesome Inheritance

> Tribal behavior is more deeply ingrained than are mere cultural prescriptions. Its longevity and stability point strongly to a genetic basis. This is hardly surprising, given that tribes are the default human social institution. The inbuilt nature of tribalism explains why it took so many thousands of years for East Asians and later Europeans to break free of its deadening embrace.

- Author: [Nicholas Wade](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nicholas-wade.md)
- Book: [A Troublesome Inheritance](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nicholas-wade/a-troublesome-inheritance.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nicholas_Wade#A_Troublesome_Inheritance:_Genes,_Race_and_Human_History_(2014)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/nicholas-wade/a-troublesome-inheritance/tribal-behavior-is-more

## More from this book

> If running a productive, Western-style economy were simply a matter of culture, it should be possible for African and Middle Eastern countries to import Western institutions and business methods, just as East Asian countries have done. But this is evidently not a straightforward task. Though it was justifiable at first to blame the evils of colonialism, two generations or more have now passed since most foreign powers withdrew from Africa and the Middle East, and the strength of this explanation has to some extent faded.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nicholas-wade/a-troublesome-inheritance/if-running-a-productive.md)

> Each of the major civilizations has developed the institutions appropriate for its circumstances and survival. But these institutions, though heavily imbued with cultural traditions, rest of a bedrock of genetically shaped human behavior.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nicholas-wade/a-troublesome-inheritance/each-of-the.md)

> Many forms of new knowledge are potentially dangerous, the energy of the atom being a preeminent example. But instead of curtailing inquiry Western societies have in general assumed that the better policy is to continue exploration in confidence that the rewards can be reaped and the risks managed. It is hard to see why exploration of the human genome and its racial variations should be made an exception to this principle, even though researchers and their audience must first develop the words and concepts to discuss a dangerous subject objectively.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nicholas-wade/a-troublesome-inheritance/many-forms-of-new.md)