The distinctive culture of the Romani settlements can be approached as one of the last relicts of traditional society. The traditional society is based on the belief in the mutual inequality of people.
This belief is connected to the concept of ritual impurity and sub-ethnic separation: individual groups are perceived as mutually unequal as far as the basic quality of humanity is concerned. In the Romani settlements, humanity itself is understood as a differentiated and hierarchical quality.
The fundamental premise of the civic society stating that all human beings are equal is missing here.