Primitive culture

In older anthropology texts and discussions, the term "primitive culture" refers to a society believed to lack cultural, technological, or economic sophistication or development. For instance, a culture that lacks a written language might be considered less culturally sophisticated than cultures with writing systems; or a hunter-gatherer society might be considered less developed than an industrial capitalist society. While becoming less politically correct, some Western authors, such as anthropologists and historians, used it to describe pre-industrial indigenous cultures. Historically, assigning "primitive" to other people has been used to justify conquering them.

It is also the title of a book by Edward Burnett Tylor, in which he defines religion as animism, which, in turn, he defines by reference to contemporary indigenous and other religious data as belief in spirits. Another defining characteristic of primitive cultures is a greater amount of leisure time than in more complex societies.[1]

See also

Notes

  1. Farb, Peter (1968). Man's Rise to Civilization As Shown by the Indians of North America from Primeval Times to the Coming of the Industrial State. New York City: E. P. Dutton. p. 28. LCC E77.F36. Despite the theories traditionally taught in high-school social studies, the truth is: the more primitive the society, the more leisured its way of life.

Further reading

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