Explain at least one way that the social hierarchies of ancient civilizations are similar and one way that they are different.
Answers
Answer:
The term civilization refers to complex societies, but the specific definition is contested.
The advent of civilization depended on the ability of some agricultural settlements to consistently produce surplus food, which allowed some people to specialize in non-agricultural work, which in turn allowed for increased production, trade, population, and social stratification.
The first civilizations appeared in locations where the geography was favorable to intensive agriculture.
Governments and states emerged as rulers gained control over larger areas and more resources, often using writing and religion to maintain social hierarchies and consolidate power over larger areas and populations.
Writing allowed for the codification of laws, better methods of record-keeping, and the birth of literature, which fostered the spread of shared cultural practices among larger populations.
Answer:
There are large-scale structural similarities between ancient and modern civilization that reveal continuities from the origins of civilization to the present day, but there are also some discontinuities that have changed the character of life over time.
Perhaps the most obvious example that will be the first thing on everyone’s mind is the difference in technology. It is pretty obvious that technology today is much more advanced that technology in the ancient world. Technology today is also widely distributed and relatively cheap. Everyone uses high technology today, while the highest technology gadgets manufactured in the ancient world were relatively rare and few people owed or used technology in the sense that we understand “technology.”
On the deeper level, technology has changed the texture of the world we live in. (This observation is due to philosopher of technology Don Ihde.) While tools, thus technology, are older than human beings, and some other species use tools, the technological texture of our world is different from that of the past. It is likely that, whoever you are reading this, wherever you are located, you are probably surrounded by technology. You are probably in a building, wearing clothes made by machines, and every item in your pockets are also probably made by machines.
This is very different from the past, and quite different from the texture of life in ancient civilization. While people in the past lived in buildings and wore manufactured clothing (albeit manufactured by hand), most items within reach would have been plant or animal products. This is no longer the case. So one sense in which modern civilization differs from ancient civilization is the technological texture of life today.