Philistinedom

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The whole community or world of people who are regarded as philistines, lacking interest in art, culture and intellectual matters
2. The domain or sphere in which uncultured, materialistic people dominate and scorn learning, art and refinement
3. The collective condition or social realm of those who are indifferent or hostile to culture, ideas and the arts

Etymology: "Philistinedom" is formed from "philistine" plus the suffix "-dom," meaning a domain, state or realm, as in "kingdom" or "freedom." "Philistine" itself carries a famous history: the Philistines were a people of the ancient eastern Mediterranean coast, mentioned in the Bible as enemies of the Israelites, and the name came into English in the sense of a hostile outsider or boor. The sense of a person indifferent to art and culture was popularised in the early 1820s by German university students, who used "Philister" for townspeople they saw as dull and uncultivated, and the English writer Matthew Arnold later adopted the word in this sense in the 1860s. "Philistinedom" follows that cultural sense, meaning the realm or collective body of such people, or their attitudes and values taken as a whole. Arnold's usage is the key reference point for the term, as he used "Philistinism" to describe a middle-class complacency he found hostile to culture. The suffix "-dom" attaches to the noun to name the whole territory of the type.

Synonyms: philistinism