middlebrowism

middlebrowism means middlebrow attitudes generally; the quality of being middlebrow. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 88 out of 100.

Why “middlebrowism” is a great word

The earnest aspiration to engage with high culture, often marked by a preference for the accessible, the edifying, and the conventionally respectable over the truly challenging or innovative. From middlebrow (itself a compound of middle and brow, modeled on highbrow and lowbrow) + the suffix -ism, denoting a distinctive practice or system. The term 'middlebrowism' is first attested in 1955. Unlike highbrowism, with its rigorous pursuit of the avant-garde, or philistinism, with its active contempt for cultural values, middlebrowism is characterized by a sincere, if sometimes dutiful, admiration for the sanctioned classics. It is the tastefully abridged edition of a great novel, the symphony performance prefaced by a reassuring lecture, and the museum tour that pauses only before the most famous paintings—a gentle cultivation of the mind that mistakes recognition for understanding, and comfort for enlightenment.

Etymology

From middlebrow + -ism.

noun

Middlebrow attitudes generally; the quality of being middlebrow.“If we wish to stop this march of middlebrowism, education must revamp both its philosophy and its objectives.”