occidentalism means the habits and attitudes of westerners.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, occidentalism ranks #1,828 of 12,955 for Most Malleable Words, #3,170 of 12,956 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #5,933 of 12,955 for Most Elegant Words, #8,539 of 12,955 for Most Incisive Words.
Why “occidentalism” is a great word
The representation or study of the West from a non-Western perspective, or the perceived cultural characteristics attributed to it. From occidental (from Latin occidentalis, from occidens "the west, sunset") + -ism (suffix forming nouns of action or practice). First recorded in English use in 1839. Unlike Orientalism, which codifies the West's gaze upon the East, or Westernization, which describes the concrete adoption of customs, occidentalism is the reflexive gaze outward, a framework of perception shaped from the outside looking in. It is the bustling, impersonal metropolis seen as a hive of atomized individuals, the perceived moral license of exported entertainment, or the austere geometry of a skyscraper skyline interpreted as the architecture of cold rationality. It is the silhouette of a civilization, drawn from the outside, in the long shadow it casts.
Etymology
From occidental + -ism.
noun
- The habits and attitudes of westerners.“Giving full agency to the Chinese Occidentalists, she argues that Occidentalism was a discourse used within the context of domestic politics in post-Mao China as a “strategy of liberation" and a counterdiscourse to the government's ideological domination […]”
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- occidental 87% match — Of, pertaining to, or situated in, the occident, or west; western. vs occidentalism →
- orientalism 85% match — The tendency to represent eastern subjects, to assume stylistical characteristics original of the East, especially in 19th century Europe. vs occidentalism →
- westcentrism 84% match — The practice of viewing the world from a Western perspective, with an implied belief, either consciously or subconsciously, in the preeminence of Western culture. vs occidentalism →
- eurocentrism 83% match — The practice of viewing the world from a European perspective, with an implied belief, either consciously or subconsciously, in the preeminence of European culture. vs occidentalism →
- occident 83% match — The part of the horizon where the sun last appears in the evening; that part of the earth towards the sunset; the west. vs occidentalism →
- ethnocentrism 81% match — The tendency to look at the world primarily from the perspective of one's own traditional, deferred, or adoptive ethnic culture. vs occidentalism →
- iconoclasticism 81% match — iconoclastic beliefs and attitudes vs occidentalism →
- xenocentrism 81% match — A preference for the products, styles, or ideas of a different culture or nationality. vs occidentalism →