premodernity
Pre-industrial historical era
Premodernity refers to the period or conditions before the modern era—roughly before the Enlightenment, industrialization, and the rise of secular nation-states.
The term appears mainly in academic and philosophical contexts, often contrasting traditional societies organized around religion, monarchy, and agrarian life with the rationalism and individualism that followed: Premodernity valued communal bonds over personal autonomy.
Like its counterpart postmodernity, the word is more useful for framing arguments than marking precise historical boundaries.
Relating to land cultivation
- barterDirect goods-for-goods exchange
- handcraftCreate something manually
- hearthFireplace floor area
- homesteadFamily farm and dwelling
subsistence · farming · foraging · hunting · granary · millstone · irrigation · harvest
Very old indeed
- archaicBelonging to earlier times
- classicalOf ancient Greece/Rome
- prehistoricBefore documented civilization
- primitiveIn earliest form
bygone · olden · timeless · age-old · antique · paleolithic · neolithic · stone-age
All gods of a religion
- deitiesWorshipped supernatural beings
- cosmogonyStudy of universal origins
- underworldRealm of the departed
- titansDominant powerful figures
oracle · prophecy · epic · heroes · myths · legends · gods · goddesses
Land-for-service social structure
- serfdomFeudal bound labor
- monarchyRule by crowned sovereign
- manorialismMedieval estate labor system
- hierarchyRanked authority structure
peasantry · aristocracy · caste · clan · tribe · dynasty · lineage · hereditary
agrarian
Relating to land cultivation
homestead · subsistence · farming · foraging · hunting · granary · millstone · irrigation · harvest · blacksmith
ancient
Very old indeed
- archaicBelonging to earlier times
- classicalOf ancient Greece/Rome
- prehistoricBefore documented civilization
primitive · bygone · olden · timeless · age-old · antique · paleolithic · neolithic · stone-age · antiquity
pantheon
All gods of a religion
- deitiesWorshipped supernatural beings
- cosmogonyStudy of universal origins
- underworldRealm of the departed
titans · oracle · prophecy · epic · heroes · myths · legends · gods · goddesses · sacrifice
feudalism
Land-for-service social structure
- serfdomFeudal bound labor
- monarchyRule by crowned sovereign
- manorialismMedieval estate labor system
hierarchy · peasantry · aristocracy · caste · clan · tribe · dynasty · lineage · hereditary · nobility
customs
Traditional practices or import taxes
- ritualsCeremonial repeated practices
- heritageInherited cultural legacy
- folkloreInherited cultural narratives
ancestry · ceremony · pilgrimage · rites · taboo · superstition · elders · festivals · sacred · initiation
premodernityindustrial society
Civilization centered on manufacturing
industrialization · capitalist society · modernity · secular society · capitalism
premodernitymodernity
Being of present times
secular humanism · scientific worldview · secularism · empiricism · rationalism
modern, ultramodern, modernity, postmodern, premodern, postmodernism, postmodernist, antimodernist, ultramodernist