Arrested culture


 * You may also be looking for the legal term "arrest"

An arrested culture is one that for reasons internally or externally caused, has artificially stagnated and is not progressing along a normal developmental path.

Spock referred to the Organians as a "laboratory specimen of an arrested culture" prior to the revelation of their true natures in 2267. Other examples of arrested cultures include the inhabitants of Beta III while still under the control of the computer-entity Landru, and the worshiper/servants of the machine "god" Vaal on Gamma Trianguli VI prior to its destruction. 

Less obvious examples of arrested cultures include the cultures of Eminiar VII and Vendikar, locked in a five-hundred-year-long war prior to the intervention of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) in 2267, as well as the inhabitants of the asteroid/ship Yonada, who had lost the knowledge of their own origins prior to their encounter with Enterprise in 2268. 

The transplanted Native American people of Amerind were an arrested culture, appearing virtually unchanged from the time they left Earth to the time of their discovery by the Enterprise in 2268. Captain James T. Kirk found no reason to "fix" their culture, however, as there was no evidence that their lack of development was anything other than by their own choice.