Civilization Effective Study

Is civilization an effective organizational tool for studying history?
Civilization is great at describing many cases throughout more recent history. However, due to the limited concrete information we have on early societies and peoples the term "civilization" is constantly changing and evolving and therefore inadequate to describe earlier civilizations. The definition of a civilization most basically is "the stage of human social development and organization that is considered most advanced." Ok, then according to this definition an early Neolithic group whose now primal seeming organization was the most advanced of the time would be categorized with a modern civilization such as the Western civilization. However, I did some research and …show more content…
First, on the physical side of things, a sedentary agricultural lifestyle allows farmers not only a more stable source of food but also the strong possibility of a surplus. Also, the Nomadic lifestyle simply wasn’t as feasible as it had been for years prior. Due to factors such as climate change and overhunting, the big game moved north towards cooler weather (away from humans). Humans had only two options: risk their lives following unpredictable game in a far harsher climate, or develop methods that would allow them to stay in the preferable climates with a controlled food source. As for the social aspect, although nomadic life tended to be more unrestricted (egalitarian)living in larger groups was simply more logical. As modern day humans have found, the basic needs of our species includes social interaction. Living in a sedentary community allows for far more socializing that leading a nomadic lifestyle would. Finally, another human need in safety. Not only are we physically more protected when living in a group system, we also have an innate sense of security mentally. Although the gradual transition may of been tough, the long term benefits are well worth the …show more content…
Previously, in hunter-gatherer societies women were seen as equals to men as they too provided an important food source (through gathering). However, the creation of sedentary civilizations lead to the modern social construct of basic mental congenital gender differences. Because the rise in surpluses, people began to have more children. In nomadic hunter-gatherer societies women do not have as many children for two reasons. One, a food source and stable living conditions weren 't always reliable and taking care of children while constantly traveling was difficult (more mouths to feed yet they don’t contribute to the collecting of food). Also, women’s role as gatherers was incredibly important. If no game was brought home, they were relied on to survive, having children would make it more difficult to do their job. Because of these reasons, women often had few children and spaced them farther apart so they didn 't have to deal with so many mouths to feed at once. Now that in sedentary civilizations food collection took primarily physical strength and people felt comfortable to have more children it made sense to have women stay home to take care of their offspring. However, although the transition took place thousands of years ago, it has lead to modern gender discrimination. Also, a social hierarchy began to form. Rather than everyone working together towards a common goal with the same resources in hunter-gatherer nomadism,