[quiverfull]

For easier reading, Sociological aspects of a civilization affect economics - work ethic, desire to succeed etc. ; culture - Why are the old goverment buildings made of stone and marble, with majestic pillars? to reflect justice How about churches/cathedrals? to point to the majesty of God How about songs? Inner belief is brought forth How about dance? Inner feelings

Belief affects your economics and culture, whether man is the ultimate being or God.

[GSlob]

I am a Huntingtonian - and I was writing of Huntingtonian civilizations. Material objects [in more or less universal use around the globe nowadays] do not matter, and for the very simple reason that even the most sociologically barbaric civilizations [Say, islamic, orthodox and sinic, in order of diminishing inherent barbarity] nowadays use them, in their government buildings, and otherwise. Prior to globalization, the Japanese, being in seismic place, used mostly wood, with stone used very sparingly in their older monuments. During the years of islamic and sinic material ascendancy, their civilizations in my reference frame were still more barbaric than their contemporary nascent Western civ, and that for the reason that the western civ, despite its at the time material and technological backwardness, was creating the civil society, and they were not. I measure the civilizational advance by milestones such as Magna Carta, and not by the invention and building of an urban sewer system. Building gigantic structures using the advanced materials and techniques [from pyramids to the favorite toys of stalinist and hitlerian gothics, to the hydroelectric dams- the favorite toys of later 20 century totalitarians] does indeed signify not only the technology you seem to be interested in [and I am not], but also social psychology of those desiring and ordering such structures [the aspect I am interested in].