Introduction
“Civilization refers to the change in the social behavior especially about their culture, religion and politics,” (Huntington, p12). Society today is comprised of different groupings and each group has its own accorded ways of civilization in their way of living. Most groups in society are differentiated by their language, religion, history among other cultural characteristics. Over time, the cultural attributes of every group within our society will keep changing.
This can be attributed to the ever-changing technology which modifies people’s way of thinking and thus the way people live. Accommodating such change may be faced with a lot of resistance by the older generations in the cultural context and this results in a lot of conflict between individuals and groups within the society. Such conflict is what has been referred to as civil conflict. This refers to the conflict that is present in our society as a result of the changes that are ever-evolving in our cultural norms. This paper analyses the question of whether society can avoid such conflicts that evolve as a result of civilization.
Modern society
The world today has been affected by the changes in technology which has modernized every aspect of life. People have become civilized in their way of living by making considerable changes within their lifestyles. Society has transformed in the way they used to dress, eat, worship, and learn among other aspects of living. Most societies have adopted the western style of living. This has resulted in a lot of conflict with the traditional ways of living. “The evolving changes in our culture are not easily assimilated into the traditional way of living,” (Huntington, p26).
The older generations find it difficult to adapt to the modern way of living and they strive to maintain their traditions and culture. This, therefore, means that the modern generation will always conflict with the older generation in the way things should be done within society. Divisions between different groupings within the society cannot fail to exist since every group strives hard to maintain its cultural values and interests. Groups such as the Christians and the Muslims will not agree on the civilizations that exist in the modern world. This is especially related to western civilization which is widely spread globally.
Globally, different nations will have different levels of civilization which is mainly cultural. This will always be the source of conflict between nations. Most societies have differences in the way they view politics and also the economic means of living. Another important aspect of differences in civilization is a religion where each society will have different religions such as Christianity, Islamic, Buddhism, and Hinduism among others. Such groupings living within a single society will always conflict since all have different beliefs, especially on the political and economic aspects.
Nation’s conflicts
Nations such as Asia are well known to be always in conflict due to differences in civilization especially between the Muslim community and the Hindu community. Nations are always in conflict on international issues such as terrorism, human rights, trade among others. What one nation believes is not what the other will believe and adhere to. A good example is a civil conflict that exists between China and the United States.
China is the only country that has come up with a form of civilization that is different from the western form of civilization. It is with no doubt that these two nations will always clash on the forms of civilizations that exist between them. The adoption of these types of civilizations will also cause differences in other nations which will adopt a different form of civilization. Such conflicts have mostly been referred to as the cold war.
Another example is the economic conflict that exists between Japan and the United States over economic issues. “It is extremely impossible that there will come a time when nations or the different groups within the global sphere will agree on the attitudes, values, and cultures that exist between them or the aspects that touch on the economic and political factors that affect all the societies both nationally and globally,” (Huntington, p34). Civilization is especially characterized by competition and this will mostly result in some kind of conflict if not violence.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the conflict between nations and societies resulting from civilization is inevitable. There is always a struggle in matters related to culture, economic, and political factors. The differences that result from the struggles to acquire power both in terms of the economy and also political power will always be a source of conflict. Most societies have adopted the western ideologies on civilization in matters related to equality, free markets, democracy, and individualism and this has conflicted with other cultural aspects such as religion.
The spread of the civilizations of the superpowers in the west has been met with a lot of mixed reactions from other nations and societies. The struggle to acquire civilization such as modern technology, machines, military weapons, and wealth will conflict with other societal aspects such as the culture and the traditional values of people. The need to protect the cultural values and interests from other societal civilizations will always result in clashes between different nations. “It is very difficult for the societies in the world to develop aspects of commonality related to civilization which are acceptable to all societies and which can easily be adapted or assimilated in every society’s cultural believes,” (Huntington, p42).
Work cited
Huntington, Samuel. The Clash of Civilizations: Transformations and Reality. Princeton University Press, 2003, p12-46.