Talk:Civilization

Skip to table of contents

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Civilization article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the subject of the article.

Add new text under old text.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Start a new topic

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Archives (index): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7: 3 months

History Top‑importance

	History portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject History, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the subject of History on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.HistoryWikipedia:WikiProject HistoryTemplate:WikiProject Historyhistory
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.

Sociology Top‑importance

	Society portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Sociology, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of sociology on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.SociologyWikipedia:WikiProject SociologyTemplate:WikiProject Sociologysociology
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.

Philosophy: Social and political Mid‑importance

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Philosophy, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of content related to philosophy on Wikipedia. If you would like to support the project, please visit the project page, where you can get more details on how you can help, and where you can join the general discussion about philosophy content on Wikipedia.PhilosophyWikipedia:WikiProject PhilosophyTemplate:WikiProject PhilosophyPhilosophy

Mid

This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Associated task forces:
/
	Social and political philosophy

Anthropology Top‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Anthropology, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Anthropology on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.AnthropologyWikipedia:WikiProject AnthropologyTemplate:WikiProject AnthropologyAnthropology
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the importance scale.

Archaeology High‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Archaeology, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Archaeology on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.ArchaeologyWikipedia:WikiProject ArchaeologyTemplate:WikiProject ArchaeologyArchaeology
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

The subject of this article is controversial and content may be in dispute. When updating the article, be bold, but not reckless. Feel free to try to improve the article, but don't take it personally if your changes are reversed; instead, use the talk page to discuss them. Content must be written from a neutral point of view. Include citations when adding content and consider tagging or removing unsourced information.

World civilisationsWorld civilisations was merged into this article. The discussion was closed on 30 November 2010 with a consensus to merge. The original page is now a redirect to this article. Its history now serves to provide attribution for the content in this article, and it must not be deleted as long as this article exists.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
August 6, 2013	Peer review	Reviewed

Archives

Index 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

This page has archives. Topics inactive for 90 days are automatically archived 1 or more at a time by if there are more than 4.

"Advancement" and "Progress"

The words advancement and progress are very prominent in the first few paragraphs. These imply directionality. Use of these words and directionality is opposed by many anthropologists. I will change these to better convey what "characteristics" informally are called civilization. Please explain any disagreements if it is deemed necessary to undo my changes.

Feudalism is a civilization

According to historians: "Feudal civilization" See the books results: https://www.google.com/search?q=%22feudal+civilization%22&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=djCJVr-8OMLzPYP4jsAK#q=%22feudal+civilization%22&tbm=bks

"Urban civilisation" needs article

There is such a thing as "rural civilisation", which means that "urban civilisation" needs specific and separate treatment. Why base the entire approach on the principle "civilisation = urban civilisation"? Talking here of mainly historical developments, including periods of involution or regress.Arminden (talk) 02:00, 13 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Also, in a narrower meaning, "urban civilisation" is used for a particularly urban sector of modern life and art. One really cannot equate the two, civilisation = urban civilisation. Arminden (talk) 02:04, 13 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with you @Arminden. I think this is a consequence of the fact that this article starts off from a quasi-etymological yet very debatable definition of "civilisation" as equating with "a nation of cities" and then layers on other properties, when there is indeed no true justification for doing this (as you point out with the notion of "rural civilisation"). Marcool04 (talk) 05:07, 12 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Criticisms of the concept?

Couldn't there be a section dedicated to dissent/criticisms of the concept/underlying assumptions about "civilisation" ?? Thinkers like Graeber and other modern anthropologists/historians could come under that section. It seems like an all togethor rather presumptive notion. The article touches on this in the "contrast with" section, and makes frequent use of "civilized" and "uncivilized," in quotation marks, implying controversy and ambiguity with these categories, and yet a reader is left wanting for substantive detail in this area of discourse. MJTCQ (talk) 03:17, 24 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Perfectly agree! I also feel that in most social science, the concept is all but abandoned, and this should feature more prominently in the opening paragraph of the article. Basically as it stands this article describes the "popular notion" of "civilisation", but it is not - until the section on contrast - a very good representation of how the concept features in scholarly discussion. Marcool04 (talk) 05:04, 12 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Contradiction: British or US spelling

The header reads "Use Oxford spelling", but the title and first word in lead are spelled with z, US style, 'civilization'. This is self-contradictory. Pls sort it out. Arminden (talk) 08:11, 12 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

The 1st sentence goes on with plenty of AE: characterized, urbanization, standardized. It's rather funny, like making a point :)) Arminden (talk) 08:16, 12 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]

You need to READ Oxford spelling! Johnbod (talk) 02:41, 14 June 2026 (UTC):[reply]

You're right, sorry! Assumptions can be wrong. Thanks. Arminden (talk) 10:04, 14 June 2026 (UTC)[reply]