Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 6, 2023

“Civilization” and Its Relationships with “State” in Terms of Lewis H. Morgan’s Multiple Meanings

(Abstract)

Yi Jianping

In academia, the protracted split over the concept of “civilization” and its relationship with “state” is fundamentally due to the simplistic understanding and adoption of Lewis H. Morgan’s relevant theories. In fact, “civilization” in Morgan’s theories has at least three meanings: (1) a particular culture in a narrow sense; (2) a particular developmental state in economic, social and political terms; (3) a particular developmental stage of human society which contains the first two. Taking the emergence of “state” as a reference coordinate, the origin of “civilization” in Morgan’s view corresponds to at least three different periods: “civilization” of the first type appeared hundreds of years earlier than the “state,” as did “civilization” of the second type; and “civilization” of the third type was virtually contemporaneous with “state,” or appeared just a little later. Morgan’s multilayered theoretical definitions of “civilization” and its complex relationships with “state” have serious logical flaws. The subsequent examination of empirical materials in the fields of history, archaeology, and anthropology using Morgan’s distinguishing markers or criteria for civilization in the narrow sense has never found any universality.