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High School Textbooks: The Five Criterias Of Civilization

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Civilization is a term used to describe the different human groups and organizations that are considered most advanced. Standard high school textbooks sometimes argue that there are five criteria of a civilization: Advanced cities, Specialized workers, Complex institutions, Record keeping, and Advanced technology. ¬¬¬Although, the five criteria mentioned by the standard high school is arguable and debatable, if one looks back at ancient civilizations and see how they established they could see that these five criteria shaped them into a civilization, a additional criteria should be a connection to a world system which is necessary for a society to advance and flourish for many years, civilization could also be a valid concept since it shows …show more content…

According to Civilization: Analysis, on line 42 they said, “Peoples like the Chinese and the Arabs, who had created great cities, monumental architecture, writing, advanced technology, and large empires, usually won a place along with the Europeans near the top of these ladders of human achievement.” This quote shows how that the most prominent civilizations have the criterion that matches the high school textbooks and how they were considered the biggest and strongest civilizations. Although it didn’t mention specialized workers and complex institution, monumental architecture needed the requirement of specialized workers in order to make magnificent monuments and building large empires usually needed complex institutions to keep order among the people in the empire. An important key figure for a civilization to be built was usually the advancement of technology. According to Jared Diamond, in his article The Worst …show more content…

According to Civilization: Analysis, on line 19 it says, “The word civilization is derived from the Latin word civilis meaning “of the citizens.” This shows how civilization refers to the citizens and how they build such an advanced society that led to the establishment of a civilization. Civilization is a valid concept since it shows how certain societies developed far beyond other communities. Like the Mesopotamians for example, they were one of the first civilizations that spread throughout Southwest Asia. According to Traditions and Encounters: A global perspective on the past, “Mesopotamians projected their power to foreign lands and imposed their ways by force” (46). This knowledge shows how certain civilizations had such a deep influence on other countries and how they expanded beyond other societies by force. Also, the term civilization is used to show a certain level of advancement that places them on top of other societies and if a civilization wouldn’t be more advanced the other societies then it wouldn’t be a civilization so it really is a valid concept. Nevertheless, if one sees how a civilization is a set of knowledge, beliefs, or products of a society then its clear that civilization is a valid

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