What Does "Civilization" Mean?
History of Civilization If you are Interested you may also know about the Civilization In this article, we're going to talk about one of the key organizing concepts in history and look at the ways in which the Definition of a term—specifically, the definition of the term "civilization"—is not as straightforward and unproblematic as it might seem at first glance. So the topic of today's discussion will be - What is civilization? We'll be using this term repeatedly throughout this Content and these articles, so it's worth taking a moment to think about what it means and what connotations might be associated with different definitions so that we can arrive at a precise definition of how we use In this course civilization. Definitions So let's start by looking at a few definitions of civilization. One of the earliest definitions was that civilization is the most advanced stage of human development. Another possibility is that civilization is the largest cultural unit about which linear history can be written, and linear history here means only one story, one coherent story.
Learn about civilization, its different meanings, value judgments, and a practical definition. Know More about the History of Civilization and Meaning. Or perhaps a civilization is a society with functionally interconnected sets of economic and social institutions. These are all somewhat different definitions of the same term—definitions of civilization have been hotly debated and hotly contested among historians in the last few years—for several reasons. First, this concept of civilization; a value judgment is attached to it. If we look at that first definition, that civilization is the stage of human development that is the most advanced - a progressive model works in which one society of people is better or more advanced than another group of people.
Problem with Value Judgments:
So there's a value judgment, a moral judgment attached to it based on what's called modernization theory, and modernization theory is just this principle that the world is constantly evolving into a more modern state, a better state. Civilization is also rooted in language, in the discourse—if you will—of the civilized and the uncivilized, or the civilized and the barbarian. So it's a loaded term, civilization, and it's also hard to define because civilizations in world history have developed in relation to each other, so it's hard to identify individual civilizations.
How do you separate the history of Islam - for example - and Islamic civilization from their origins in Christian civilizations or in Western civilizations? Functional definition So it is a problematic term - a hotly debated, sometimes passionately contested term. So I will offer you a working definition, something that we can use, that we can come back to when we discuss the evolution of human societies throughout human history. So our working definition is this - civilizations are groups of people with a shared culture that have reached a degree of complexity on a complexity scale and meet a few basic criteria.
Working Definition of Civilization:
First, civilizations have population density and some form of center for that population. It may be a village, it may be a large city, but civilizations are rooted in permanent settlements. These permanent settlements allow for a larger and often growing population that lives in relatively close proximity. Civilizations maintain a form of writing. They have some form of writing that allows them to keep records. They have some form of economy and permanent specialists, so there is a degree of division of labor. Civilizations take the form of government and social hierarchy.
They produce monumental – meaning collaborative and public – architecture and produce self-reflexive art or art that reflects their beliefs and daily activities and shared cultural traditions or norms. You'll notice that we haven't applied any specifics to these categories. So what I said was - civilizations have some form of economy; that economy could be self-sufficient, it could be based on trade, it could be big, it could be small - but civilizations have some form of economy. They have some form of government, and there are many types of government that we will return to again and again throughout this Content, but civilizations have some form of social organization and someone who commands them—someone or some group of people. people are in charge.
So when we come up with this list, it's important that you note that there are no specific criteria - no type of economy separates civilization from uncivilization. There is also no value judgment attached to these criteria. They either meet the criteria or they don't, and one isn't better than the other - so it's usually divided into civilization and culture, and there's no value judgment attached to that category.
Roots of Civilization in the Neolithic Revolution:
The Neolithic Revolution So now that we have something else that may be imperfect, it may be incomplete, and it's certainly up for debate. But now that we have a working definition of civilization, let's talk about where these characteristics came from, because they have their roots in the Agricultural Revolution—or what historians call the First Agricultural Revolution or the Neolithic Revolution—and the Neolithic Revolution was more or less just a discovery, that people could grow Food where they were instead of having to chase it, instead of relying solely on hunting and gathering, and the idea of agriculture, of growing your own food, was a profoundly transformative idea in history.
It allowed people to stay put. When you have to keep track of your food supply, your party is inherently nomadic. You're following the food where it goes—whether you're following herds of animals or moving into more productive areas—you need to be prepared to move fairly regularly. So agriculture allows for the development of permanent settlements, and permanent settlements allow for larger populations and allow these larger populations to live in close proximity to one another. They need to live close to where the food grows and where they - in places where they can rely on each other and where they can touch each other.
So that's where the first characteristic we talked about comes from, which is larger populations and population centers—those villages, those cities, those early places where people gathered. A larger population and this kind of safety in numbers creates - or increases - food production, which ultimately allows for a food surplus. They may provide or may grow more food during the growing season to ensure security. You know, there's a kind of security blanket, if you will, where they have more food as a backup in case of an environmental disaster or some other problem with their current food supply. But some of the surplus could also be traded. Because they were able to grow more food more efficiently, not everyone had to be a farmer, not everyone had to grow food. So it allows specialists, for the division of labor.
