Civilization is a social stage that human beings reach when they develop cities and other forms of urban society. This stage also allows people to develop complex institutions that govern their communities and societies. Civilization has its own set of characteristics and benefits, but it also has drawbacks such as the potential for cultural indifference and the loss of personal freedoms. Nevertheless, the term civilization has become a part of Western culture and language.
The origin of the word civilization is disputed among scholars and laypeople alike, but it seems to be associated with a period of growth for human beings that began in the Neolithic Revolution in West Asia and continued into ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Shang China, and Maya-period Mesoamerica. This development was characterized by the appearance of a governing elite, urbanization, and the evolution of the state.
During this time, people grew food on a larger scale and developed other advanced features such as pottery. These advances allowed people to produce more than enough to feed themselves. Division of labor then enabled the production of surplus artifacts that could be traded or sold to other communities. Eventually, the development of writing allowed people to record their knowledge for posterity. This information could be used to facilitate long-distance trade and for other purposes. In addition, sophisticated urban architecture and highly stratified social structures, such as multiple heirarchies with several inherited classes of kings, nobles, freemen, serfs and slaves, developed.
The term “civilization” often is used to mean an advanced state of human society that has reached a high level of science, culture and industry. This definition, however, has problems for archaeologists and anthropologists, who believe it implies an overt value judgment that civilization is better than other forms of human communities.
In addition, this view of civilization often ignores the negative aspects of civilization, such as warfare and slavery. In fact, anthropologists such as V. Gordon Childe use terms such as “savagery” and “barbarism” to describe other types of human communities, reflecting their assumptions that civilization represents progress. Later, anthropologists tried to avoid making value-laden judgments and sought to find value-free ways to classify human societies.
The five essential traits of civilization are advanced cities, advanced technology, record-keeping, specialized workers and complex institutions that govern society. While a particular civilization’s city or technology might be more sophisticated than another’s, all five of these essential elements must be present. Moreover, a civilization must demonstrate the ability to grow and change as new challenges or opportunities arise. Otherwise, it is not a true civilization.