Seri, the mantra here is "Tribal != Primitive".
I think it should be pretty damned obvious to people that just because the Minmatar use a tribal social system, they're not (as a general rule) primitives - in-fact heralding some of the most creative thinkers of the cluster, and despite their relative youth as a Republic spearheading a fierce war-machine and presence as a political entity.
I think that a lot of people fall into that trap. As far as Hatele's clan goes, yes, for the most part they were impoverished and in many ways were 'primitive tribals'. However, I'm mindful of how I planned that out, there's a strong juxtapose with technology there and I was careful about how Hatele's story fit in with EVE.
Lately I've been going out of my way to point just that mantra out, but I fear it's not sticking.
@Arnulf: That's a pretty succinct description of my vague beliefs, yes.