I consider that there are different degrees of civilization and there are many different ways of expressing it. But one is civilized or is not.
Democracy may have arisen in the West as the way of striving for the universal aspiration to dignity and freedom, but it isn't alien to the underlying concepts that infuse religion and moral philosophy everywhere.
Learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things, but learning another way to think about things.
Many, many, many small moves of many kinds can bring a way to manage change. The theory can come later.