"The tribalistic sociology that has led to a large group of people calling themselves “string theorists” when what they do has nothing to do with string theory is also something I would have thought impossible."
It's my personal bias but I see every group this way.
As someone intrigued by 'cults' early in life, I've come to see that all groups exhibit quite a lot of in/out group behaviour, the weird things is when it happens among those most socially unaware people (often science) - combined with a highly objective discipline (again science) ... people are just unwilling to accept that social artifacts can dominate their sphere.
Now, the existential issue of the fact that their 'entire worldview' and 'life-long work' is tied up in something, delusions can become very strongly internalized.
String theory is at least as interesting for the 'sociology' part as it is the 'string' part.
String theory, and the 'reproducability problem' has kind of shaken my faith in science. I grew up really 'believing' in Science, I view it much more differently these days - including those who have this unassailable faith in it as likely being a little deluded themselves.