The word civilization comes from the ancient Roman word civilis, which meant “suitable for a private citizen” and “behaving like an ordinary, down-to-earth person.” Historians connect civilization especially with urbanization and the ways of life that characterize city existence. Also, the word civilization often expresses the judgment that being civilized means achieving a superior way of life. Consider, for example, these definitions from The Random House Webster’s College Dictionary (1997), p. 240:
civilization: 1. an advanced state of human society, in which a high level of culture, science, and government has been reached. 2. those people or nations that have reached such a state. 3. any type of culture, society, etc. of a specific place, time, or group: Greek civilization. 4. the act or process of civilizing or being civilized. 5. cultural and intellectual refinement. 6. cities or populated areas in general, as opposed to unpopulated or wilderness areas. 7. modern comforts and conveniences, as made possible by science and technology.
All these definitions imply that civilization means an “advanced” or “refined” way of life compared to a “savage” or “rude” way. Ancient peoples often drew this sort of comparison between themselves and those whom they saw as crude. Much later, this notion of superiority became prominent in European thought after voyagers to the Americas reported on what they saw as the barbarian life of the peoples they called Indians. Because these Europeans saw Native American life as lacking discipline, government, and above all Christianity, it seemed to them to be “uncivilized.” Today, this sense of comparative superiority in the word civilization has become so accepted that it can even be used in nonhuman contexts, such as in the following startling comparison: “some communities of ants are more advanced in civilization than others.”2
Sometimes civilization is used without much definitional content at all, as in the Random House dictionary’s third definition. Can the word have any deep meaning if it can be used to mean “any type of culture, society, etc. of a specific place, time, or group”? This broad definition reveals that studying civilization and deciding what it does—and should—mean still presents difficult challenges to students of history today. Should it not be their task to make civilization a word with intellectual content and a reality with meaning for improving human life, as those who first used the word thought that it was?