savagery

Savagery is a term used to describe extreme violence or brutality, and, in some historical contexts, a supposed stage in a now-outdated framework of cultural development. It can refer to acts of brutal cruelty or to a perceived lack of what observers considered “civilized” behavior. The word carries strong value judgments and has been employed in both moral and ethnographic descriptions.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, some social scientists used savagery as part of a triadic scheme to classify human societies, alongside barbarism and civilization. In this framework, different forms of subsistence and technology were taken as indicators of a people’s stage of development. Within these discussions, savagery was often further subdivided to indicate purported progress in tools, fire use, or other innovations. Modern scholars reject such linear hierarchies and emphasize the diversity and adaptability of human societies rather than ranking them.

Criticism of the concept is extensive. Savagery is recognized as ethnocentric and deeply biased, projecting Western notions of civility onto non-Western peoples. It has been invoked to justify colonial domination and the mistreatment of groups deemed “uncivilized.” Contemporary anthropology and related fields prefer specific, descriptive terms (foraging, horticultural, metallurgy) and avoid sweeping, value-laden categories.

In contemporary usage, savagery may appear in literary, historical, or literary-critical contexts to describe characters, events, or tropes involving extreme violence. It is generally discouraged as an analytical frame in scholarly work, where emphasis is placed on context, agency, and cultural complexity rather than simplistic judgments of barbarity.