What does "reflectionism" mean?

The view that cultural phenomena (literature, art, etc.) simply mirror the ideology of the dominant economic patterns of society.

Reflectionism

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
The view that cultural phenomena (literature, art, etc.) simply mirror the ideology of the dominant economic patterns of society. countable, uncountable
"Economic determinism is the central tenet of political theory and "naive" reflectionism is the basic premise of cultural theory."
2
The belief that we apprehend the world by copying or reflecting it within the mind; the idea that thought is a reflection of reality, rather than something created by the mind. countable, uncountable
"Doesn't reflectionism itself imply that ontology is somehow prior?"
3
The belief that judgement is intuitive and that reflection and reason are subsequently applied to justify judgements. countable, uncountable
"I hope by now to have shown that there is good reason to think that ethical reflectionism is a framework of moral inquiry which is far more common than it may appear."
4
The use of reflection to examine and critique aspects of society. countable, uncountable
"Reflectionism allows society to confront itself or to see its own absurdity."

"Economic determinism is the central tenet of political theory and "naive" reflectionism is the basic premise of cultural theory."

From reflection + -ism.

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