In order to determine whether or not a society can be considered a civilization, it is essential to have a clear definition of the word itself. Webster's dictionary defines a civilization as an advanced state of intellectual, cultural, and material development in human society, marked by progress in the arts and sciences, the extensive use of writing, and the appearance of complex political and social institutions. Although that may be the definition in the dictionary, I believe civilization to be the way of life started by people who live in unified cities. However, V. Gordon Childe, a famous archeologist, created ten conditions, which he felt needed to be fulfilled in order to consider a society a civilization. While each of Childe's ten conditions are all of importance, it is essentially incorrect to assume that a society is not a civilization simply because it does not fulfill all of the conditions. The concepts of class stratification is well defined and clearly cut in Childe’s work. It is now essential to define this condition and then apply it to …show more content…
At the top is a ruling class, which oversees the rest of the society. Below the ruling class are usually skilled artisans and warriors. At the bottom of the social structure are service people as who are responsible for all manual labor in the city. They may include low-level artisans, farmers, and slaves. In each civilization, they all believed in social classes. As we discussed in our Socratic Seminar, the idea of one being greater than another has been an issues all throughout time. What makes a person see themselves as better than someone else? Even our president, Donald Trump, believes he’s “of higher class” because he is wealthy. One idea I had that I did not get to mention in the socratic seminar is that I consider everyone to be considered equal. Whether they are white ,black, gay or straight, or even of different culture as me