Civilisatie en cultuur opnieuw bezien

Samenvatting

Civilization and Culture Reconsidered. Although civilization and culture can be seen as overlapping and almost synonymous concepts (taking civilization as the dynamic equivalent of culture), drawing a sharper boundary between these two concepts may assist in elucidating problems with Norbert Elias's The Civilizing Process in which civilization implies the control of emotional impulses. Culture (not present as a scientific concept in his original theory) refers to symbolic knowledge in the broadest sense. Attention is focused on how civilizing and cultural processes are linked. Contrary to Elias's view that state and market formation are the basis of civilizing processes, it is claimed that relatively independent cultural processes (literacy, religious systematization, and scientific and technological advances) hold a prominant place in these processes. Since the 1800s the spread of systematic, abstract, decontextualized scientific knowledge through formal schooling has become a key disciplinary, civilizing influence. 1 Figure, 38 References. Adapted from the source document.