anticivilizational

Anticivilizational is a term used to describe ideas, critiques, or movements that oppose or challenge modern civilization in its dominant forms. It typically refers to a stance that civilization, especially industrialization, urbanization, technology, and centralized governance, has produced social, ethical, environmental, and psychological problems. The label is applied across disciplines, including philosophy, anthropology, environmental ethics, and political theory, rather than designating a single systematic school of thought.

Origins and usage vary. In academic and activist contexts, anticivilizational critique may argue that civilization generates domination, alienation, ecological destruction, and violence, and that many social goods (such as community, autonomy, or ecological balance) are undermined by civilizational institutions. Some proponents are associated with primitivist or anarchist perspectives that advocate a return to simpler or nonindustrial ways of living, while others argue for radical reforms that temper or reimagine technological and political power without a complete rejection of civilization.

Prominent discussions often reference thinkers who critique technological society or centralized power, such as anarchist or ecophilosophical writers. However, the term is used broadly and not all who employ it advocate a single path, practical or feasible in every context. Critics of anticivilizational positions contend that they romanticize preindustrial life, underestimate civilization’s achievements, or overlook mechanisms for reform and sustainability within complex societies.

See also: primitivism, anarchism, technocracy, ecological civilization, decolonial critique.