Unit of Organization

Consider the following observation made by a classical scholar:

“The basis of political organization among the early Romans was the gens or clan. This unit of organization, which in one form or another is common to the Indo-European peoples, retained many of its characteristics and some measure of its social and political importance to a very late period.”

What does the decomposition of this unit of organization signify to those of us who represent the posterity of the Indo-Europeans? Progress? Decline? An indifferent act of nature?