Perspective on civilization ii (pocn03 f)

1. PERSPECTIVE on
CIVILIZATION II (POCN03F)
Prepared by Raizza P. Corpuz

2. ACTIVITY 1: The art of seeing the
invisible (THRTFSNGTHNVSBL)
INSTRUCTION:
Configure the missing vowels of the sentences given.
(15-20 MINS.)
1. CVLZTNSCLTRLNTTY
2. CVLZTNSMYINVLVLRGNMBRFPPL
3. CVLZTNSDYNMC,TRSNDFLL

3. ANSWERS:
1. A civilization is a cultural entity.
2. Civilizations may involve a large number of people.
3. Civilizations are dynamic, they rise and fall.

4. Etymological Meaning
•word civilization relates to the Latin
term civitas, or ”city”, refers to urban state-
level societies
• civilization often means nearly the same
thing as culture or even regional traditions
including one or more separate states

5. •the process by which a society or place
reaches an advanced stage of social
development and organization.
•the society, culture, and way of life of a
particular area

6. • inevitable end product of social or political evolution
• The diversity of human experience seems too complex
and vast for our concepts to fit reality perfectly.
• It might be wiser, and perhaps closer to the truth, to
realize that each human society is shaped by its own
unique set of circumstances, and that universal
explanations or general concepts do not always make
perfect sense.

7. Introduction
Samuel Huntington: on The Clash of Civilizations (Nature of
Civilizations)
•According to Huntington, civilizations,
the highest cultural groupings of
people, are differentiated from each
other by religion, history,
language, and tradition.

8. What do we mean when we talk of a
civilization?
• A civilization is a cultural entity. Villages, regions, ethnic
groups, nationalities, religious groups, all have distinct
cultures at different levels of cultural heterogeneity.
• A civilization is the highest cultural grouping
of people and the broadest level of
cultural identity, people have short of that
which distinguishes humans from other species.

9. • It is defined both by common objective elements, such as
language, history, religion, customs, institutions, and by the
subjective self-identification of people
• Civilizations may involve a large number of people, or a very small
number of people, such as the Anglophone Caribbean.
• A civilization may include several nation states, as is the case
with Western, Latin American and Arab civilizations, or only one,
as is the case with Japanese civilization.

10. Ethnocentric Views on Civilization:
• the word "civilization" to refer to a type of society that displays a set
of moral values
(PROBLEMATIC)
e.g in ITALY: Mammoni
Mamma’s boy, is a term applied to single Italian men who are still
living at home with their mothers. This is actually a common way of
life in Italy, and more than half of the young men still live at home in
Italy. In the 18-34 age group almost 60 percent of all single people,
men and women are living at home in Italy. And many of these men
are in their 40’s and 50’s

11. Thus,
Civilizations are nonetheless meaningful entities,
and while the lines between them are seldom
sharp, they are real.
Civilizations are dynamic; they rise and fall, they
divide and merge civilizations disappear and are
buried in the sands of time.

12. Why Civilizations Will Clash?
According to Huntington (1996)
• Civilization identity will be increasingly important in the
future, and the world will be shaped in large measure by the
interactions among seven or eight major civilizations.
These include Western, Confucian, Japanese, Islamic, Hindu,
Slavic-Orthodox, Latin American and possibly African
civilization.

13. WESTERN: comprising the United States and Canada, Western and
Central Europe, Australia and Oceania. Whether Latin America and
the former member states of the Soviet Union are included, or are
instead their own separate civilizations, will be an important future
consideration for those regions, according to Huntington.
LATIN AMERICAN: Includes Central America, South America Cuba,
the Dominican Republic, and Mexico.
ORTHODOX : world of the former Soviet Union, the
former Yugoslavia (except Croatia and Slovenia), Bulgaria, Cyprus,
Greece and Romania. Countries with a non-Orthodox majority are
usually excluded (Shia Muslim Azerbaijan, Sunni Muslim Albania and
most of Central Asia, Roman Catholic Slovenia and Croatia, Protestant
and Catholic Baltic states). However, Armenia is included, despite its
dominant faith, the Armenian Apostolic Church, being a part
of Oriental Orthodoxy rather than the Eastern Orthodox Church.

14. EASTERN WORLD: mix of the Buddhist, Chinese, Hindu,
and Japonic civilizations.
The Buddhist areas of Bhutan, Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Sri
Lanka, and Thailand are identified as separate from other civilizations, but
Huntington believes that they do not constitute a major civilization in the sense
of international affairs.
• The Confucian civilization of China, the Koreas, Singapore, Taiwan,
and Vietnam. This group also includes the Chinese diaspora, especially in
relation to Southeast Asia.
• Hindu civilization, located chiefly in India, Bhutan and Nepal, and culturally
adhered to by the global Indian diaspora.
• Japan, considered as a society and civilization unique to itself.

15. According to Huntington (1996) Why Civilizations
Will Clash?
First, differences among civilizations are not only real; they are basic.
Civilizations are differentiated from each other by history, language,
culture, and tradition and, most important, religion.
Second, the world is becoming a smaller place. The interactions between
peoples of different civilizations are increasing; these increasing
interactions intensify civilization consciousness and awareness of
differences between civilizations and commonalities within civilizations.
Third, the processes of economic modernization and social change
throughout the world are separating people from long-standing local
identities.

16. • Fourth, the growth of civilization-consciousness is enhanced by
the dual role of the West. On the one hand, the West is at a peak
of power. At the same time, however, and perhaps as a result, a
return to the roots phenomenon is occurring among non-
Western civilizations.
• Fifth, cultural characteristics and differences are less mutable
and hence less easily compromised and resolved than political
and economic ones.
• Finally, economic regionalism is increasing.

17. Huntington’s notion, …… that:
In this new world the most pervasive, important, and dangerous
conflicts is about between peoples belonging to different cultural
entities.
Tribal wars and ethnic conflicts will occur within civilizations.
Violence between states and groups from different civilizations,
however, carries with it the potential for escalation as other states
and groups from these civilizations rally to the support of their
"kin countries.

18. Thank You!
References:
Samuel P. Huntington (1996) The Clash of Civilization and the
Remaking of World Order