Are civilizations determined by the economic structures on which they are founded?
This essay, by the very nature of the questions involved, will tend to rely heavily on Braudel’s work and will begin by discussing how Braudel defined the term ‘civilisation’ and the problems with definitions. The second element of the essay will try and determine, very briefly, what determines how a civilisation evolves and what it becomes.
Braudel’s Definition
In the ancient world, the concept of being civilised was juxtaposed against barbarism. For the Greeks, the Persians were barbarians simply by virtue of the fact that they did not speak Greek. The concept of being civilised, then, is very old; civilisation, on the other hand is relatively new. Even from the very first years of its use, the term civilisation has at least a double meaning: it implies both moral and material values. Karl Marx was of the view that the moral was far superior to the material, whereas Seignobos took exactly the opposite view stating that Civilisation is a matter of roads, ports and quays; implicitly saying that culture was not the most important factor at all.
Civilisation, then, has at least two separate and distinct levels. Many historians and authors have felt a need to separate the term into two separate words, culture and civilisation; the first being concerned with spiritual matters, the latter with largely economic or material interests. As in so many areas, of course, there is no clear consensus as to where the distinction should be drawn; it varies from country to country, age to age and indeed from author to author.
During the early part of the 20th century, the confusion arising from the term civilisation eventually gave the element ‘culture’ a certain precedence. The sociologists Tonnies and Weber concluded that civilisation was no more than a collection of technical and practical knowledge and a way of manipulating the natural world. Culture, on the other hand, was to do with ideas, with values and principles; in short it was the spirit.
By the beginning of the 19th century, the word civilisation, which had before this time always been used in the singular, began to be used in the plural. From this point forth, its meaning was quite different, it began to mean something like the characteristics common to the collective life of a period or a group. We could now, for perhaps the first time, discuss the concept of the civilisation of classical Athens, or of Rome or Persia for example.
During the 20th century, and indeed now in the very early part of the 21st, it is the plural of the term that tends to dominate. To travel to other countries and experience other societies and other ‘cultures’ highlights the plurality in the nature of civilisation, wherever one travels in the world, one experiences distinct differences. The same can be true in visiting museums or indeed in reading history.
In the modern world, we are, and indeed should be, wary of attempting to define the term civilisation in the singular. To use the term in the plural, we are implicitly stating a gradual decline in the concept. That typically Victorian view that civilisation was for the privileged few, the elite in society, has fortunately become obsolete. Value judgements such as these have largely been abandoned and now we would feel uncomfortable, and would find it difficult even if pressed to decide which civilisation was ‘best’, however you would choose to define that term.
Civilisation, now used primarily in the singular, has lost some of its cachet. The term civilisation no longer represents some kind of supreme virtuous, moral, intellectual or indeed industrial supremacy or value than it did to those living during the 18th century. It has become far more natural, for example, to talk of heinous crimes such as genocide as crimes against humanity rather than crimes against civilisation as they most surely are. In this new politically correct age, we feel uneasy about using the word civilisation in the sense in which it was first used, to denote human excellence or superiority, however you would choose to define superiority, over others.
The term civilisation, in the singular at least, now has come to signify and denote something that all civilisations tend to share to varying degrees; the common heritage of humanity. The use of writing, construction of buildings, life in settled societies, domestication of animals and cultivation of plants, these are no longer defined to any single civilisation but have become some of the collective attributes of civilisation in the singular.
In the age of mass communication, the spread of some of the collective elements of civilisation to many of the peoples of the world has become phenomenal. Industrialisation, which began in the west, is now being exported around the world, and is being eagerly sought and consumed by many societies. This trend has significantly increased with the current American desire for ‘full spectrum dominance’; will we reach a state where the whole worlds will essentially look the same? On this note, Raymond Aron wrote We have reached a phase where we are discovering both the limited validity of the concept of civilisation and the need to transcend that conceptThe phase of civilisations is coming to an end, and for good or ill humanity is embarking on a new phase that of a single civilisation which could become universal.
Economic Determination and Conclusion
We should probably not travel too far down the road that Aron does, industrialisation is only one of the elements of civilisation as defined by Braudel. By accepting and utilising it, developing nations are not bound to develop along the same lines as the west has, they are not implicitly agreeing to take on Western civilisation and its values lock stock and barrel as it were. The history of civilisation is the history of mutual exchange over a period of centuries with each civilisation keeping its original and unique character. It is well established that Rome, for example, took on board many elements of Greek culture but did not simply become a pale imitation of classical Greece but developed a rich civilisation of her own. Industrialisation is, however, the first element of civilisation that has been willingly adopted by all of the civilisations of the world. This is also the first time that mass communication has made such dissemination even possible. It remains to be seen what impact this drive for industrialisation will have upon the civilisations of the world.
There is little doubt that civilisations are determined on economic structures, upon capitalism and industrialisation for example. But this argument should not be taken too far. Economic considerations are only one of the vast number of elements that contribute to civilisation. It can be recognised, for example that nations such as Great Britain, Germany and China are, or are becoming heavily industrialised and yet each can easily be said to possess a very distinct civilisation. Economic institutions can, however, provide a backdrop for the development of civilisation. A strong economy within the context of industrialisation can provide the financial means to develop some of the cultural elements that comprise civilisation, such as architecture, literature and music.
It should also be noted as a final point, that even if a civilisation is not founded upon any significant economic or industrial lines, the civilisation can still be influenced by them. Societies change and evolve, that is in their very nature of civilisation; and, taking the example of modern China, they can develop along certain lines for many centuries but they are not bound by that development or their pre-existing structures and economies. The same can indeed be said of culture, any given society can develop a highly complex culture over many centuries, but it need not be bound by that development. Pre-existing cultures can gradually evolve and change over time; civilisations are not static but are constantly evolving entities.
Tags: Braudel, civilisation, greeks, karl marx, material interests, material values, spiritual matters, virtue, world culture
