Culture and Civilization
Culture and Civilization
This short paper is meant to explain the concepts of culture and civilization; because it is often assumed
that they have the same meaning. Although the two terms bear similar definitions, their connotations
differ from each other, which make their usage interchangeably inaccurate. Explaining the meaning of
each word and its connotation, requires an explanation of how they relate to one another in a historical
context. Such a clarification is important to understand the course of societal development over time,
and to identify the issues that cause different peoples identifying with different cultures to misunderstand
each other and at times clash with one another. So without understanding the meaning of each concept
and how it relates to the other and differ from it, the evolvement of history and the fate of civilizations
and cultures would not be understood correctly. The explanation is also helpful in identifying the issues
that cause cultures and their followers to often misunderstand each other, and at times clash with one
another causing conflict and war.
Definition of Culture
The term ‘culture’ is a Latin origin of the world ‘cultus’, which refers to cultivating or refining
something, in such a way that it provides admiration and respect. In finer terms, culture is the way people
live, reflected in the language they spoke, food they eat, clothes they wear and the Diety they follow or
worship. It expresses the manner in which one thinks and do things.
In other words, culture is the set of knowledge, experiences and behaviours which is commonly shared
by a group of people. It is something that a person gains through learning.
Culture includes art, knowledge, belief, customs, traditions, morals, festivals, values, attitudes, habits
and so on which are inherited by a person as a member of society. It is everything; an individual achieves
as a member of a social group. It can be seen in the literature, music, dance forms, religious practices,
dressing style, food habits, ways of greeting others, recreation and enjoyment. Different cultures can be
found in different places, as it varies from region to region.
Definition of Civilization
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Civilization is described as a process of civilizing or say developing the state of human society, to the
extent that the culture, industry, technology, government, etc. reaches the maximum level. The term
‘civilization’ is derived from a Latin term ‘civis’ which indicates ‘someone who resides in a town’.
The term ‘civilization’ is not confined to town; rather it talks about adopting better ways of living, and
making best possible use of nature’s resources, so as to satisfy the needs of the group of people. Further,
it stresses on systematising society into various groups that work collectively and constantly to improve
the quality of life, regarding food, education, dress, communication, transportation, and the like.
The first definition of civilization as the achievement of “a high level of culture, science, industry,
and government” considers culture, just like science and industry, one component of civilization, rather
than its other face. This definition also suggests that culture does not include science, industry, or
government; presumably, it includes only such intangible things that may be transmitted from one
generation to another as beliefs, traditions, customs, literature, and values. Culture, defined by
Constantine Zurayk, is “the sum of the creative achievements of the human spirit in society.”4 In Thomas
Sowell’s formulation, culture “involves attitudes as well as skills, languages, and customs.”5 Michael
Naumann, Germany’s former Minister for Cultural and Media Affairs, said in 2000 that “culture is a
symbol for spiritual innovation, for satirical laughter, for imagination, for an intellectual challenge – but
also for comfort, for relaxation and for all those forms of entertainment that do not automatically dull
people’s minds.”6
Since civilization includes culture, and culture is only one component of civilization, neither
concept should, therefore, be used to refer to what the other means. Using both concepts interchangeably
confuse issues related to both culture and civilization and makes it hard to understand how each concept
relates to the other, and this makes it difficult to identify the role played by culture and civilization in
the past.
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Culture, as defined above, concerns itself with the quality rather than the quantity of what society
has developed over time in the visual arts, literature, values, traditions, and similar fields of human
endeavor. It refers to the total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings, interacting with
one another in what we call society. This suggests that culture includes traditions, customs, attitudes,
laws, belief systems, social institutions, worldviews, ways of thinking, and relationships developed by a
group of people over time and transmitted from one generation to another. Culture, therefore, must be
understood as a product of one group of people living and working together and interacting with one
another for a very long time in one society. This makes culture particular, rather than universal.
Civilization, on the other hand, refers to both the quality and quantity of human achievements in
the fields of culture, science, and industry; it is therefore a product of people interacting with each other
as well as with nature and technology over longer periods of time in countless places, not in one society.
Civilization tends to underline the comforts of life that are attainable through industry, science,
technology, as well as culture. These are developments that in and of themselves reflect the accumulation
of knowledge developed by all peoples throughout history. Civilization concerns itself with the material
and non-material aspects of life, while culture concerns itself with the non-material aspects of life only.
Since the interaction of humanity with nature is meant to discover nature’s secrets and laws and
exploit its resources, economic means and technological tools become decisive factors in making and
shaping civilizations, and thus human history. Civilization, therefore, is produced by humanity and thus
it belongs to all peoples; culture is produced by one society and thus it belongs to one people or nation.
Consequently, culture is particular and portable, while civilization is global and non-transferable; the
first is communal and largely national; the second is universal. Because culture is only one component
of civilization and one of its many aspects, a civilization can and does often produce more than one
culture. Being an attribute of civilization, every culture owes its existence and basic traits to the particular
civilization that produced it, and not to any other civilization. This means that when a civilization
changes, the cultural component of that particular civilization changes as well.
Cultures, being products and attributes of civilizations, their developments had to follow that of
their mother civilizations. Nevertheless, after a particular civilization is fully developed, its cultural
components assume an active role in shaping the direction and influencing the pace of change in society.
Cultures also help shape the way younger generations think and behave, influencing the attitudes they
usually adopt towards other peoples, other cultures, science and industry, the environment, as well as
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time and work, education, and technology. However, the most important elements of culture, I believe,
are the values it espouses and the attitudes it impels people to adopt, particularly toward work and time,
the concepts of peace, freedom and tolerance, as well as the pursuit of happiness and material gain.
Being a product of people’s interactions with one another and with nature in one society, the
development of culture had to wait for societies to be formed. Only after agriculture was developed and
human settlements appeared did culture begin to develop in a systematic way and influence societal
change. Since the age of agriculture had lasted about ten thousand years before the industrial revolution
began, all cultures produced during that period were products of one single civilization, the agricultural
civilization, and therefore were similar to one another. “Until comparatively recently in human history,
all humans had the same subsistence pattern. In a certain sense, they all shared a similar, though not
identical culture.”7
Each of the so-called civilizations of the ancient past is acknowledged as such because of its noted
achievements in cultural attributes, economics, science, technology, and political and military
organization. All civilizations, regardless of their time, duration, and comparative level of achievements,
have produced refined cultures in the form of works of art, literature, architecture, values, and belief
systems. Thus, no group of people was able to join the ranks of the acknowledged civilized nations at
any time without enjoying a noteworthy cultural life.
Ancient ‘civilizations’, such as the Greek, the Egyptian and the Roman civilizations, were merely
empires that covered large areas of land and ruled several peoples. Since all these empires had lived in
the age of agriculture, they had similar cultures, not only to each other but also to other cultures that
appeared in other places at the time. Describing life conditions and the way of life in Pacoma, a village
in Bolivia, Jack Weatherford wrote: “in many ways Pacoma seems typical of village life across South
America as well as throughout India, China and Sub-Saharan Africa.”8 A visit to the Van Gogh Museum
in Amsterdam will reveal that the artist’s paintings depicting rural life in Holland, France and Belgium
in the 1880’s, particularly domestic life, could have been done a century later in Mexico, Thailand or
Morocco.
The Egyptian Pharaonic era of more than 5000 years ago is considered one of the greatest
civilizations of the past, if not the greatest of all. But Egypt of today, is much more sophisticated and
advanced than Egypt of the past, yet it is not considered a civilization. And what is true of the Egyptian
civilization is also true of the Greek, Chinese, Indian, Mexican, Roman, Persian, and Islamic
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civilizations. These were empires having similar cultures and life conditions; however, their architectural
and artistic achievements and social and military organizations were somewhat different. While people
may talk of an American or a Japanese culture, no one talks about an American or a Japanese civilization.
These are cultures produced by the industrial civilization and therefore the people of both countries have
similar ways of living and states of living.
The industrial revolution of the eighteenth century has enabled peoples of Western Europe and
North America to achieve higher levels of culture, science, industry, and government, causing the
western state of human living to be recognized as having reached the highest status of all civilizations.
This civilization is the one commonly known as the “Western Civilization,” but, to be accurate, it should
be called the industrial civilization. In fact, this civilization no longer describes life conditions in the
West only, but in all industrialized societies of the West and East. Advanced civilizations produce refined
cultures, and refined cultures reflect the achievements of advanced civilizations. This means that the
material and non-material achievements of each civilization go hand in hand, and their internal and
external interactions are what make progress, stagnation, or regression possible or inevitable.
Cultures, therefore, are products of civilizations, and their levels of achievements and
sophistication are functions of the achievements of the civilizations to which they belong. Advanced
civilizations produce refined cultures, and refined cultures reflect the achievements of advanced
civilizations. The material and non-material achievements of civilizations thus go hand in hand, and
their internal dynamics and interactions are what make progress, stagnation, and or regression
possible.However, the only society that has had a common culture was the tribal society; all other
societies that followed have a national cultural framework, within which more than one subculture exists.
Subcultures are products of economic, religious, ethnic, and ideological forces that cause each group
within each society to feel and behave and often believe differently. For example, the development and
legitimization of the private property institution in the age of agriculture caused society to be divided
into two major social classes, rich and poor; and that caused the culture of each class to be somewhat
different from the culture of the other. In the industrial age, economic activity caused society to be
divided into three major social classes; each one of them has its own culture that differs, sometimes
substantially, from the cultures of the other two classes.
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Comparison Chart
BASIS FOR
CULTURE CIVILIZATION
COMPARISON
Meaning Culture is a term used to Civilization refers to the process through
denote the manifestation of the which a region or society, outstretches an
manner in which we think, behave advanced stage of human development and
and act. organization.
What is it? End Means
Represents What we are? What we possess?
Reflected in Religion, art, dance, literature, Law, administration, infrastructure,
customs, morals, music, architecture, social arrangement, etc.
philosophy, etc.
Expression Higher level of inner refinement. Higher level of general development.
Advancement No Yes
Interdependency Culture can grow and exist without Civilization cannot grow and exist without
civilization. culture.
The following points are noteworthy, so far as the difference between culture and civilization is
concerned:
1. The term ‘culture’ refers to the embodiment of the manner in which we think, behave and act.
On the contrary, the improved stage of human society, where members have the considerable
amount of social and political organisation and development, is called Civilization.
2. Our culture describes what we are, but our civilization explains what we have or what we make
use of.
3. Culture is an end; it has no measurement standards. As against this, civilization has precise
measurement standards, because it is a means.
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4. The culture of a particular region can be reflected in religion, art, dance, literature, customs,
morals, music, philosophy, etc. On the other hand, the civilization is exhibited in the law,
administration, infrastructure, architecture, social arrangement, etc. of that area.
5. Culture denote the greatest level of inner refinement, and so it is internal. Unlike, civilization
which is external, i.e. it is the expression of state of the art technology, product, devices,
infrastructure and so forth.
6. Change in culture is observed with time, as in the old thoughts and traditions lost with the passage
of time and new ones are added to it which are then transmitted from one generation to another.
On the flip side, civilization is continuously advancing, i.e. the various elements of civilization
like means of transportation, communication, etc. are developing day by day.
7. Culture can evolve and flourish, even if the civilization does not exist. In contrast, civilization
cannot grow and exist without culture.
Conclusion
Therefore, one should not confuse culture for civilization. However, both are created by human beings
and expresses, the way we led our lives. These two gives us the ideas, ideals, values and ways to live a
decent and lavish life.
Today, as the knowledge age advances, societies are being divided into groups along sociocultural
lines more than into socioeconomic classes. However, each sociocultural group has within its ranks
socioeconomic classes. In the United States, there are religious groups that have their own cultures, but
since all such groups have to go to the same schools and abide by the same laws and work for similar
institutions and corporations, their cultures tend to have many things in common; and this makes all
subcultures components of one colorful national culture. Nevertheless, cultural diversity based on
different religions and perceived different races makes the management of cultural diversity rather
difficult; it also makes conflict easy to ignite and hard to control.
1
Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language (New York: Portland
House, 1989, 270-271
7
2
Ibid, 353
3
Stuart Chase, The Proper Study of Mankind; New York: Harper & Row, 1962, 61
4
Constantine K. Zurayk, “Cultural Change and Transformation of Arab Society,” The Arab Future:
Critical Issues, Michael C. Hudson, ed., Washington, DC: Georgetown University, 1979, 17
5
Thomas Sowell, Race and Culture; New York: Basic Books, 1994, 10
6
Michael Naumann, “A Dialogue of Cultures,” Deutschland, No. 3, June/July 2000, 3
7
Jack Weatherford, Savages and Civilization; New York: Ballantine Books, 1994, 26
8
Jack Weatherford: Savages and Civilization, Ballantine, 45