How is social life lived today? What social relations and responsibilities do we recognize? Is there any sense in which contemporary social life can be described as 'ethical'? In this exciting book Maffesoli argues that the conventional approaches to understanding society and solidarity are deeply flawed. He contends that mass culture has disintegrated and that today social existence is conducted through fragmented tribal groupings - in short, we live in the time of the tribes. These tribes are organized around the catchwords, brand-names and sound-bites of consumer culture. Yet Maffesoli insists that in the midst of fashion fads new forms of social collectivity are taking root which challenge our established models of politics and tradition. The book provides a rich backcloth against which to consider the rise of 'identity politics' and the proliferation of 'lifestyle cultures'. It hums with new ideas for reaching a theoretical and practical understanding of life in contemporary societies, and establishes Maffesoli as a key thinker of modern times. The Time of the Tribes will be required reading for students in the sociology of culture, social theory and cultural studies. This edition contains a Foreword by Rob Shields which both places the book in its intellectual context and provides a guide to the author's key arguments.