Editing Civilization (section)

{{Short description|Stratified complex society}}<!--
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[[File:standard of Ur - Peace Panel - Sumer.jpg|thumb|The ancient [[Sumerians]] of [[Mesopotamia]] were the oldest civilization in the world, beginning about 4000 BCE, here depicted around 2500 BCE, showing the different social roles in the Sumerian society of [[Ur]].]]
[[File:Egypt.Giza.Sphinx.02.jpg|thumb|upright=1|[[Ancient Egypt]] is an example of one of the first civilizations, building [[pyramid]]s starting in the 3rd millennium BCE.<ref name="ucl">{{cite web |url=http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/chronology/index.html|title=Chronology|year=2000|website=Digital Egypt for Universities |publisher=University College London|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080316015559/http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/chronology/index.html |archive-date=16 March 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref>]]

A '''civilization''' (also spelled '''civilisation''' in [[British English]]) is any [[complex society]] characterized by the development of [[state (polity)|the state]], [[social stratification]], [[urban area|urbanization]], and [[symbol]]ic systems of [[communication]] beyond [[natural language|signed or spoken language]]s (namely, [[writing system]]s).<ref name="Haviland 2013">{{cite book|last=Haviland |first=William|title=Cultural Anthropology: The Human Challenge |publisher=Cengage Learning|year=2013|page=250|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DfEWAAAAQBAJ&q=%22civilization+refers+to+societies%22 |display-authors=etal|isbn=978-1-285-67530-5 |access-date=20 June 2015|archive-date=13 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190713215613/https://books.google.com/books?id=DfEWAAAAQBAJ&q=%22civilization+refers+to+societies%22 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Fernández-Armesto 2001">{{cite book|last=Fernández-Armesto|first=Felipe|title=Civilizations: Culture, Ambition, and the Transformation of Nature|publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]]|year=2001 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3MNzi698aXwC|isbn=978-0-7432-1650-0|access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-date=1 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210401104653/https://books.google.com/books?id=3MNzi698aXwC|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Boyden 2004">{{cite book|last=Boyden|first=Stephen Vickers|title=The Biology of Civilisation|year=2004|pages=7–8|publisher=UNSW Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TX78DfVbM7kC&q=%22the+essential+precondition%22|isbn=978-0-86840-766-1|access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-date=30 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161230072508/https://books.google.com/books?id=TX78DfVbM7kC&q=%22the+essential+precondition%22|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Solms-Laubach 2007">{{cite book|first=Franz|last=Solms-Laubach|title=Nietzsche and Early German and Austrian Sociology |publisher=Walter de Gruyter|year=2007|pages=115, 117, 212 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TxTITNduFc4C|isbn=978-3-11-018109-8|access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-date=30 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161230074441/https://books.google.com/books?id=TxTITNduFc4C&dq |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="AbdelRahim">{{Cite book|title=Children's literature, domestication and social foundation: Narratives of civilization and wilderness|last=AbdelRahim |first=Layla|year=2015|isbn=978-0-415-66110-2|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|page=8|oclc=897810261}}</ref>

Civilizations are organized around densely-populated settlements, divided into more or less rigid [[hierarchy|hierarchical]] [[social class]]es of [[division of labour]], often with a ruling elite and a subordinate urban and rural populations, which engage in [[intensive agriculture]], [[mining]], small-scale manufacture and [[trade]]. Civilization concentrates power, extending human control over the rest of nature, including over other human beings.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |title=The Sources of Social Power |last=Mann |first=Michael |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1986 |volume=1 |pages=34–41 |author-link=Michael Mann (sociologist)}}
</ref> Civilizations are characterized by elaborate [[agriculture]], [[architecture]], [[infrastructure]], [[Innovation|technological advancement]], [[currency]], [[taxation]], [[regulation]], and specialization of labour.<ref name="Solms-Laubach 2007"/><ref name="AbdelRahim" /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Morris |first1=Ian |title=The Measure of Civilization: How Social Development Decides the Fate of Nations |url=https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691155685/the-measure-of-civilization |date=2013 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton |isbn=978-0-691-15568-5 |access-date=29 May 2023 |archive-date=29 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230529174320/https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691155685/the-measure-of-civilization |url-status=live }}</ref>

Historically, a civilization has often been understood as a larger and "more advanced" [[culture]], in implied contrast to smaller, supposedly less advanced cultures,<ref name="Adams 1966">{{cite book |author=Adams, Robert McCormick|title=The Evolution of Urban Society |year=1966 |page=13 |publisher=Transaction Publishers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JrZOwKU0TlsC&q=%22civilizations+are+associated%22|isbn=978-0-202-36594-7|access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-date=30 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161230073713/https://books.google.com/books?id=JrZOwKU0TlsC&q=%22civilizations+are+associated%22|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Wright 2004">{{cite book|first=Ronald|last=Wright|title=A Short History anthropological. |year=2004 |publisher=House of Anansi Press |isbn=978-0-88784-706-6}}</ref><ref name="Llobera 2003">{{cite book|first=Josep |last=Llobera |title=An Invitation to Anthropology|publisher=Berghahn Books|year=2003|pages=136–137 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_-LDyWxODjAC&q=%22best-known+definition%22 |isbn=978-1-57181-597-2 |access-date=20 June 2015|archive-date=30 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161230074407/https://books.google.com/books?id=_-LDyWxODjAC&q=%22best-known+definition%22|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{cite book|last=Bolesti|first=Maria|title=Barbarism and Its Discontents|year=2013|publisher=Stanford University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cpZZKabXvWAC|isbn=978-0-8047-8537-2|access-date=20 June 2015|archive-date=21 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231121220741/https://books.google.com/books?id=cpZZKabXvWAC|url-status=live}}</ref> even societies  within civilizations themselves and within their histories. Generally civilization contrasts with non-centralized tribal societies, including the cultures of [[nomadic pastoralist]]s, [[Neolithic]] societies, or [[hunter-gatherer]]s.

The word ''civilization'' relates to the Latin {{lang|la|[[civitas]]}} or '[[city]]'. As the [[National Geographic Society]] has explained it: "This is why the most basic definition of the word ''civilization'' is 'a [[society]] made up of cities.'"<ref>{{cite web |title=Civilizations |date=20 May 2022 |access-date=29 May 2023 |url=https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/civilizations/ |website=National Geographic Education |publisher=[[National Geographic Society]] |language=en |archive-date=29 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230529174213/https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/civilizations/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
The earliest emergence of civilizations is generally connected with the final stages of the [[Neolithic Revolution]] in [[West Asia]], culminating in the relatively rapid process of [[urban revolution]] and [[state formation]], a political development associated with the appearance of a governing elite.