First of all, society is an idea that is crucial for understanding any other human concept. Namely, modern reality is dominated by people, or at least the human perspective is the only one available for comprehension. Society, foremost, consists of individuals that comprise families and groups of families. These, in turn, are community components with their customs and norms. Such elements present elements of a highly complex structure or maintain its existence according to the needs and ambitions that the human species possesses.
Next, the communities seem to be developing into distinctive cultures with their characteristics. That is, the human species have acquired specific adaptations to the environment. These adaptations evolved into various forms, tangible and intangible, that surround the everyday life of society. Examples are technologies, beliefs, art, and habits guiding humans in their movement through existence. Thus, culture is a flexible feature of non-animal communities that penetrates their subsistence and helps to adjust to the surroundings.
The last concept, civilization, is the consequence of the constant changes of the first two constructs. Furthermore, it is more complex and emerged later than society and culture. To illustrate this point, the cores of civilization arose in Egypt and Mesopotamia after the 5th millennium BC (Fuerst-Bjelis 3). This term involves the achievements derived from prolonged periods of culture and society’s evolution. People use these attributes—agriculture, monuments, writing, warfare—to enhance their lives. Therefore, civilization comprises the highest results of human actions converted into commodities and immaterial entities.
The interrelationships between these constructs produce the whole spectrum of modern human experience. Society can comprise people groups that have not developed civilization yet, as it concerns any relationship of the individuals. Culture is prior to civilization since it shapes the communities, making them highly adaptive to the specific conditions in which they live. Civilization is dependent on both concepts because it absolutizes societal norms and traditions and elevates material culture and virtues to the most complicated stage. For instance, Mesopotamian society emerged as small groups with tribal conventions, then developed a culture where the most significant distinctive element is irrigation building. Finally, continuing their life in the Near East region, they achieved prominence in agriculture that resulted in the appearance of writing and consequential features of civilization. To conclude, the three notions are closely related to each other while having considerable differences; their interaction peaks in the rising of complex human consistent systems unique on Earth.
Works Cited
Fuerst-Bjelis, Borna. Mediterranean Identities – Environment, Society, Culture. IntechOpen, 2017.