[PeterisP]

While it comes at the expense of the "smaller tribes", IMHO it's better for the individuals at these smaller tribes, as it frees them from the limitations and even tyranny of these smaller tribes - e.g. an extreme case is the "honor killing" culture, or LGBT people who happen to be born in a "strong small tribe" and need the wider society to protect them from their local community.

Looking at the contrast between different societies, it often seems that the fragmented tribalism is actively harmful to how pleasant it is to live in that society. For example, in places where "clan identity" matters, that clan mentality is a direct driver for nepotism and corruption which makes life worse for the larger community; countries where different ethnic groups have a strong "tribal" behavior tend to have a lot of inter-community conflict, discriminatory behavior and sometimes even violence up to the point of genocide; and I'd argue that it is better for individuals to live in a more integrated larger tribe without that inter-community conflict even if it does make these smaller tribes weaker or perhaps irrelevant.