Science Reference

Civilization

The word civilization (or civilisation) has a variety of meanings related to human society.

By the most minimal, literal definition, a civilization is a complex society.

Technically, anthropologists distinguish civilizations in which many of the people live in cities and get their food from agriculture, from band societies, in which people live in nomadic or semi-nomadic groups, and tribal societies, in which people may live in small semi-permanent settlements.

The term "civilization" is used in common parlance with both a normative and a descriptive dimension.

In the past, to be "civilised", was linked to the feeling of being "civil," a term for politeness and propriety.

To be "uncivilised" in this usage means to be "rude", "barbaric" or a "savage".

In this sense, civilization implies sophistication and refinement..

For more information about the topic Civilization, read the full article at Wikipedia.org, or see the following related articles:

Note: This page refers to an article that is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the article Civilization at Wikipedia.org. See the Wikipedia copyright page for more details.

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