primitive

referring to early peoples, indigenous peoples, or other cultures as primitive is unacceptable; anthropologists see the term as unhelpful and loaded. Such a use of primitive depends on subjective judgments about such debatable concepts as civilization, intelligence, and social development. "Within the cultures of many people, more value is placed on relationships, and on the maintenance of tradition and spirituality than on the development and acquisition of machines. It is ethnocentric and racist to apply words like backward, primitive, uncivilized, savage, barbaric, or undeveloped to people whose technology does not include plumbing, microwaves and micro-chips. Are people somehow more human or more humane if they have more technological toys?" (Amoja Three Rivers, Cultural Etiquette). "Every society is primitive in some ways and complex in others. If we put aside our fascination with technology and material wealth, we may find that for many people in U.S. and European societies today, life is primitive and stunted in terms of family values, spiritual life, commitment to the community, and opportunities for rewarding work and creative self-expression" (librarian Sanford Berman). Berman says the term "is heavily overlaid with notions of inferiority, childishness, barbarity, and 'state of nature' simplicity, whereas the societies, arts, economic modes, music, and religions it purportedly covers may be extremely complex, ingenious, creative, human, and—depending on taste and Weltanschauung—admirable." Replace primitive with precise descriptors of what you mean to convey. You might also be able to use some of the following alone or in combination: folk, traditional, kin-organized, nonmechanized, early, indigenous society. See also culturally deprived/disadvantaged, heathen, illiterate, savage, Third World.