Folkism

noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An ideology that emphasizes racial or ethnic identity, especially when combined with nationalism. uncountable

    "For example, I hear a "forward" reference to the quartets of Bartok and Shostakovitch (and perhaps more generally to a kind of imprecise "Central European nationalism/folkism”) in the bare and unharmonized motif in the viola and cello, imitated by the first and second violins, at bars 92–94 of the movement."

  2. 2
    An ideology that emphasizes racial or ethnic identity, especially when combined with nationalism.; An ideology, articulated by historian Simon Dubnow, that declared Jewish people to be a diaspora nation without a territory. countable, uncountable

    "Folkism viewed itself as a present-oriented phenomenon called into existence not by individuals or ideals, but by the exigencies of daily life in the Diaspora."

  3. 3
    An ideology that emphasizes racial or ethnic identity, especially when combined with nationalism.; Völkisch nationalism; the desire for a homogeneous population that excludes foreigners and the belief that different racial or ethnic groups have different rights. countable, uncountable

    "For folkism, human value and human rights were associated with cultural identity just as they are for contemporary postmodernism."

  4. 4
    An ideology that emphasizes racial or ethnic identity, especially when combined with nationalism.; A Japanese ideology that emphasized a common identify among East Asian peoples, associated with the fascist movement during the WWII era. countable, uncountable

    "But folkism, he urged, should not be understood as imperial expansion but rather as the necessity of the group to transcend "certain limits." "The formation of Manchukuo," he wrote, "had nothing to do with capitalism but resulted from the [needs] of Japanese folkism.""

  5. 5
    An ideology that emphasizes racial or ethnic identity, especially when combined with nationalism.; A movement within the Heathen or neo-pagan community that states one cannot convert to Heathenry unless one has the appropriate ancestry. countable, uncountable

    "Further, the 'slope' from mild 'folkism' to more major nationalism, including the use of symbols associated with the far right and the appropriation and use of heathen or Asatru symbolism by such groups, is documented for the USA by Gardell (2003); we have commenced some discussion of such phenomena within the UK (e.g. Blain 2004) but wish to emphasise that the majority of heathens with whom we have been in contact see this as a major problem and seek to distance themselves from 'political' and 'racial' frameworks."

Show 5 more definitions
  1. 6
    Synonym of populism. uncountable

    "These movements were intensely nationalist, highly moral and, although middle class, discovered folkism 'as a reaction against bourgeois society' (Joll, 1983: 154)."

  2. 7
    An artistic aesthetic that is based on traditional practices that are passed on from individual to individual, such as folk tales, folk music, common cultural practices, etc. uncountable

    "The emergence of folkism in Bangladeshi cinema had much to do with what in the romantic tradition is called escapism."

  3. 8
    A movement within Nigerian theater started by Sam Ukala that focuses on folk tales as a reaction against colonialism. uncountable

    "Apart from the African folktale's capacity for clear communication and its popularity among the folk, there are other reasons why it should provide a matrix for folkism."

  4. 9
    A folksy saying, expression, or practice. countable

    "Quaint folkisms, rejected by the folk, did exert some influence – a selective influence, surely – on upper-class and noble writers, such as the great poet Aleksandr Pushkin."

  5. 10
    A philosophical stance that meaning is based on common usage by ordinary people rather than an abstract principle. uncountable

    "Once one accepts the concept of folkism in man's thought, this leads to a consideration of folkism in religion."

Synonyms

All synonyms
populism

Example

More examples

"For example, I hear a "forward" reference to the quartets of Bartok and Shostakovitch (and perhaps more generally to a kind of imprecise "Central European nationalism/folkism”) in the bare and unharmonized motif in the viola and cello, imitated by the first and second violins, at bars 92–94 of the movement."

Etymology

From folk + -ism.

More for "folkism"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.