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Article Summary on Civilization

The essay contains a summary of two articles, "City and Civilization” written by Kevin

Reilly and “Amazon Hunters and Gatherers” by Katherine Milton. In the latter, Milton seeks to

discuss the likely gains of modernization and how it is impacting hunting and gathering

traditions in the Brazilian Amazon. Milton observes, "I have led a double life. I spend part of my

time in the United States ...the rest of my life is spent in the Amazon Basin” (3). The author

utilizes her experience in living in both the modern setting and regions that embrace traditional

practices to underline the differences especially when it comes to the valuation of possession and

the adopted economic systems. Milton's observation of the two settings seeks to articulate how

civilization is slowly impacting society especially uncivilized communities such as those living

in the Amazon. Reilly's article also shares some insights on matters of civilization and traditional

practices. Reilly observes that "the first cities provided something that the best-ordered villages

lacked. They provided far greater variety; more races and ethnic groups were speaking more

languages, engaged in more occupations" (28). Reilly focuses more on highlighting the positive

implications of civilization such as giving rise to the development of statues, palaces, temples,

pyramids, and treasures. This essay will provide a clear summary of the two selected articles

indicating their key arguments which the authors want to communicate to the reader. The key

focus will be on the implication of civilization on economic systems, emerging class divisions,

and possible gains of having a modernized society.

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Reilly observes that civilization led to the challenge of class division which resulted in

several people being less disadvantaged. Reilly observes that "the class divisions of city society

made it difficult for commoners to achieve an effective or creative individuality" (31).

Civilization led to a high number of people moving into cities; this brought together a diverse

group of individuals who often spoke different languages, engaged in different economic

activities, and with different ethnicities. The emergence of urban society was hindered by one

key challenge which is encouraging the development of social classes. The powerful such as the

king and the wealthy including leading business persons belonged to the high and affluent class.

This group in society were characterized by wielding immense power and enjoying luxury

products. For instance, a king had the liberty to do what they wanted or even acquire items which

they desired (Reilly 31). Class division rendered the villagers disadvantaged as their focus now

shifted to looking at practices that would result in achieving stability which included getting

means of survival. However, the lower class was not in a position to enjoy opportunities,

freedom, luxury, and leisure; such privileges were set aside for the elite who yielded more

influence. As underlined in Reilly's article, civilization led to the shortcoming since it created

social classes which rendered lower-class people at a disadvantage.

The two articles also confirm that civilization led to positive implications of civilization

especially by leading to modernization which helped change the way of life for many in society.

One of the positive implications of civilization was the increase in urban cities and population,

which gave people a chance to enjoy some level of freedom. According to Reilly, "the urban

inhabitant was freer than his village cousin to choose friends, lovers, associates, occupation,

housing, and lifestyle" (31). Living in an urban setting meant that people were not restricted to

strictly following traditional practices adopted by the society; instead they were now at liberty to
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seek who to interact with and establish new social ties. Additionally, the articles observe that

civilization translated to increasing productivity and creativity. Reilly observes that civilization

led to “the educational opportunities, the creative outlets necessary for everyone to lead

meaningful, happy, healthy lives” (31). Milton asserts the gains of civilization revealing that

“once a group has been drawn into the pacification area, all its members are presented with

various trade goods" (7). It implies that civilization created an opportunity for more civilized

society to introduce new goods to the Indians in Amazon including offering them a chance to

have cooking pots, shorts, axes, knives, cloth hammocks, machetes, matches, and t-shirts (Milton

7). Civilization resulted to some positive implications for the affected society increasing the

chances for modernization.

Lastly, the articles confirm that civilization resulted in affecting the economic system due

to the need by people especially the elite to control huge resources. Milton observes that “unlike

our economic system, in which each person typically tries to secure and control as large a share

of the available resources as possible, the hunter-gatherer economic system rests on a set of

highly formalized expectations regarding cooperation and sharing” (7). Generally, this means

that the economic system resulting from civilization or modernization creates much emphasis on

competing for scarce resources which are regarded as a key step towards ensuring wealth

creation. This is a change from the traditional setting, especially the hunter-gatherer system

where people did not attach much value to earthly possessions; these communities had a high

tendency of migrating from one place to another thus lacking the urge to focus more on owning

or competing for material possessions. In a hunter-gatherer economic system, what matters the

most was the attainment of sharing and cooperation of resources; a tendency that translated

towards increasing chances of survival (Milton 7). However, with civilization, people are more
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ambitious and individualistic thus striving to get more resources and improve their social status

through wealth accumulation.

In conclusion, the essay provides a summarized version of two articles including "City

and Civilization" by Reilly and "Amazon Hunters and Gatherers" by Katherine Milton. The two

articles confirm that civilization has led to some impacts both positive and negative. On the

downside, it has led to the creation of class divisions which has led to lower-class individuals

being at a disadvantage. According to Reilly, "the class divisions of city society made it difficult

for commoners to achieve an effective or creative individuality" (31). The other impact noted by

Milton is the change in the economic system to a more individualistic approach.

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Works Cited

Milton, Katherine. "Amazon Hunters and Gatherers." Hunters and gatherers and the

agricultural revolution, pp. 3-10.

Reilly, Kevin. "City and Civilization." The Urban Revolution in the Near East and North

Africa, pp. 27-31.