Primitive culture

In older anthropology texts and discussions, the term "primitive culture" is used to refer to a society that is believed to lack cultural, technological, or economic sophistication/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.

The term was used by many Western authors, such as anthropologists and historians to describe the indigenous cultures in their foreign colonies, and in distant uncolonized lands.

Describing a culture as "primitive" is considered by many to be offensive. Use of the term, especially in academic settings, has thus diminished. The indigenous activist organisation Survival International is campaigning for the complete abolition of the term,[1] and has succeeded in persuading some newspapers to stop using it.[2]

It is also the title of a major work 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 "the belief in spirits". Another defining characteristic of primitive cultures is a greater amount of leisure time than in more complex societies.[3]

See also

Notes

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2011)
  1. ^ http://www.survival-international.org/campaigns/stampitout
  2. ^ http://www.survival-international.org/news/4274
  3. ^ 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