communalism

noun

com·​mu·​nal·​ism kə-ˈmyü-nə-ˌli-zəm 

1

: social organization on a communal basis

2

: loyalty to a sociopolitical grouping based on religious or ethnic affiliation

communalist

kə-ˈmyü-nə-list 

noun or adjective

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

The country was characterized by a similar blend of individualism and communalism at its founding and in its early decades, when Tocqueville in the 1830s credited the blending of the two with America’s success in creating the world’s first mass democracy. —Win Mccormack, The New Republic, 17 Sep. 2020

Freeing the financial sector, reducing government involvement in industry, and shifting from communalism to individualism have a lot more to do with Israel’s flourishing than industrial policy. —Sagi Barmak, National Review, 30 Mar. 2023

The kinship with the hacker ethic is not incidental: This kind of psychedelic kitchen science shares a genealogy with personal computing, both with roots in 1970s Northern California counterculture and its communalism, pragmatism, and eco-modern aesthetic. —Joanna Steinhardt, Wired, 12 Feb. 2021

Suddenly their communalism looks like little more than cruel tribalism. —Jennifer Wilson, New York Times, 29 Mar. 2022

Despite India being the world's largest democracy, and constitutionally secular, the BJP has repeatedly stoked the flames of communalism, othering Muslims, branding them dangerous and violent. —Akanksha Singh And Roshan Abbas, CNN, 19 May 2022

Prominent later commentators, including Karl Popper and Isaiah Berlin, scorned the Idealists’ communalism as inherently nationalistic and even totalitarian, preparing Germany for its militaristic, authoritarian future. —Jeffrey Collins, WSJ, 18 Mar. 2022

In short, John Locke’s ideas are part of the reason there’s limited class consciousness in this country, and why our culture emphasizes individualism over communalism. —Natalie Shure, The New Republic, 8 Feb. 2022

The communalism, however, would have been recognizable to anyone that ever watched two runway contestants battle to the last death drop. —New York Times, 19 Jan. 2022

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Word History

First Known Use

1897, in the meaning defined at sense 1