Civilization
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Definition
An advanced state of human society, in which a high level of culture, science, industry, and government has been reached. Those people or nations that have reached such a state. Any type of culture, society, etc., of a specific place, time, or group: Greek civilization. The act or process of civilizing or being civilized: Rome's civilization of barbaric tribes was admirable.
In depth
A civilization is a complex society or culture group characterized by dependence upon agriculture, long-distance trade, state form of government, occupational specialization, urbanism, and class stratification.
"Civilization" is often used as a synonym for the broader term "culture" in both popular and academic circles. Every human being participates in a culture, generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activities significance and importance. The quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits ect. However, in its most widely used definition, civilization is a descriptive term for a relatively complex agricultural and urban culture. Civilizations can be distinguished from other cultures by their high level of social complexity and organization, and by their diverse economic and cultural activities.
The relevance for eGovernment
Civilizations have distinctly different settlement patterns from other societies. The word civilization is sometimes defined as "a word that simply means 'living in cities'".Non-farmers gather in cities to work and to trade.
Compared with other societies, civilizations have a more complex political structure, namely the state. State societies are more stratified than other societies; there is a greater difference among the social classes. The ruling class, normally concentrated in the cities, has control over much of the surplus and exercises its will through the actions of a government or bureaucracy. Morton Fried, a conflict theorist, and Elman Service, an integration theorist, have classified human cultures based on political systems and social inequality. This system of classification contains four categories:
- Hunter-gatherer bands, which are generally egalitarian.
- Horticultural/pastoral societies in which there are generally two inherited social classes; chief and commoner.
- Highly stratified structures, or chiefdom, with several inherited social classes: king, noble, freemen, serf and slave.
- Civilizations, with complex social hierarchies and organized, institutional governments
Examples
The Aztecs were an advanced and prosperous civilization who built beautiful and sophisticated cities. At their peak, the Aztec civilization had about 15 million people who lived in nearly 500 communities. The Aztecs were culturally developed in music, arts, crafts, and the sciences. Music played an important role in Aztec religious rituals for worshiping their many gods. About 300,000 people lived in Tenochtitlan, their capitol. In this famous city, the government controlled and was responsible for punishment, agriculture, and all aspects of the civilization’s economy.
The highly developed empire had an elaborate leadership and society that consisted of four classes.
- Nobles (highest in power)
- Commoners (the majority of population, were mostly farmers)
- Serfs (worked land for the nobles)
- Slaves (consisted of those captured and indebted who couldn’t pay)
Governmental office positions were usually inherited, but one could be awarded an office through exemplary service to the emperor. Slavery was quite common.
Sources, further reading, links
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- weblink to source 2
- Author, source 3 book title, edition, publisher, year, ISBN
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