Editing Civilization (section)

===As a contrast with other societies===
The idea of civilization implies a progression or development from a previous "uncivilized" state. Traditionally, cultures that defined themselves as "civilized" often did so in contrast to other societies or human groupings viewed as less civilized, calling the latter [[barbarians]], [[wikt:savages|savages]], and [[primitive culture|primitives]]. Indeed, the modern Western idea of civilization developed as a contrast to the [[indigenous peoples|indigenous]] cultures European settlers encountered during the European colonization of the Americas and Australia.<ref name="Smithers">{{cite journal |last1=Smithers |first1=Gregory D. |title=The 'Pursuits of the Civilized Man': Race and the Meaning of Civilization in the United States and Australia, 1790s–1850s |journal=Journal of World History |year=2009 |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=245–272 |doi=10.1353/jwh.0.0047|s2cid=143956999 }}</ref> The term "primitive," though once used in [[anthropology]], has now been largely condemned by anthropologists because of its derogatory connotations and because it implies that the cultures it refers to are relics of a past time that do not change or progress.<ref>{{cite web |title=ASA Statement on the use of 'primitive' as a descriptor of contemporary human groups |url=http://www.theasa.org/news.shtml#asa |publisher=Association of Social Anthropologists|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111114155909/http://www.theasa.org/news.shtml#asa |archive-date=14 November 2011 }}</ref>

Because of this, societies regarding themselves as "civilized" have sometimes sought to dominate and assimilate "uncivilized" cultures into a "civilized" way of living.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bowden |first1=Brett |title=Oxford Handbook Topics in Politics |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford Academic |url=https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/41327/chapter/352326100 |chapter=Civilization and its Consequences |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935307.013.30 |isbn=978-0-19-993530-7 |access-date=29 July 2023 |archive-date=29 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230729013409/https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/41327/chapter/352326100 |url-status=live }}</ref> In the 19th century, the idea of European culture as "civilized" and superior to "uncivilized" non-European cultures was fully developed, and civilization became a core part of European identity.<ref name="Heraclides">{{cite book |last1=Heraclides |first1=Alexis |last2=Dialla |first2=Ada |title=Humanitarian Intervention in the Long Nineteenth Century: Setting the Precedent |date=2015 |publisher=Manchester University Press |pages=31–56 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1mf71b8.7 |chapter=3 Eurocentrism, ‘civilization’ and the ‘barbarians’ |doi=10.2307/j.ctt1mf71b8.7 |jstor=j.ctt1mf71b8.7 |access-date=29 July 2023 |archive-date=29 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230729013403/https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1mf71b8.7 |url-status=live }}</ref> The idea of civilization can also be used as a justification for dominating another culture and dispossessing a people of their land. For example, in [[Australia]], British settlers justified the displacement of Indigenous Australians by observing that the land appeared uncultivated and wild, which to them reflected that the inhabitants were not civilized enough to "improve" it.<ref name="Smithers"/> The behaviours and modes of subsistence that characterize civilization have been spread by [[colonization]], [[imperialism|invasion]], [[religious conversion]], the extension of [[bureaucracy|bureaucratic control]] and [[trade]], and by the introduction of new technologies to cultures that did not previously have them. Though aspects of culture associated with civilization can be freely adopted through contact between cultures, since early modern times Eurocentric ideals of "civilization" have been widely imposed upon cultures through coercion and dominance. These ideals complemented a [[Scientific racism|philosophy]] that assumed there were innate differences between "civilized" and "uncivilized" peoples.<ref name="Heraclides"/>