Human civilization advanced tremendously through the impacts of agriculture. Agriculture was the backbone of the growing human civilization. How do we define ‘civilization’? In the book, “ civilization” represents a new and particular type of human society, made possible by the productivity of the Agricultural revolution. Such societies encompassed far larger populations than any earlier forms of human community.”(62) After reading this, we now understand that “civilization” was a new form of human society that had a much greater population than all other civilizations. The agricultural advancements provided both enough food and a stable environment for the early civilizations to settle and adapt, and from there larger societies began. There were three groups: the Mesopotamians, Egyptians, and Norte Chico civilizations all born in or around earlier civilizations that were born in or around 3500 B.C.E to 3000 B.C.E. These three societies were just the beginning of many new- smaller civilizations that would soon begin.
In addition to the development and advancement of human civilizations, the idea Hierarchies of class and Hierarchies of gender began growing and has continued until today's modern times. According to the book; inequality between social classes was viewed as typical or normal. The higher class societies owned a majority all of the land while being able to have laborers.We also read about how patriarchy ran rampant in early civilized times which meant sons were more preferred than daughters. Men were said to have control and domination of their female counterparts. The ideals of a once heavily patriarchal society have since then determined how our modern day society has evolved. Patriarchy has shown itself in many ways: professional workplace, relationships and even in some of our current healthcare conversations regarding planned parenthood and whether or not abortions are morally and ethically right.
