totalitarianism

Definition of Totalitarianism

(noun) A system of centralized government in which the State has total authority over society and manipulates all aspects of culture including the arts, in order to control the private lives and morality of its citizens.

Totalitarianism Pronunciation

Pronunciation Usage Guide

Syllabification: to·tal·i·tar·i·an·ism

Audio Pronunciation

International Phonetic Alphabet

• American English – /ˌtoʊˌtæləˈtɛriəˌnɪzəm/
• British English – /ˌtəʊtælɪˈteərɪənɪz(ə)m/

Usage Notes

• Totalitarianism is an extreme form of authoritarianism.
• Totalitarianism uses cultural and moral effort to control the citizenry, while authoritarianism is based on submission to authority by the citizenry to a powerful cadre of leaders.
• The possibility of totalitarianism ever existing or if it even could exist is often discussed and subject for fiction, including Ray Bradbury’s (1920–2012) Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and George Orwell’s (1903–1950) 1984 (1949). Orwell ushered many terms into the communal lexicon, such as Big Brother, doublethink, and thoughtcrime.
• Also called:
  • totalism
  • totalitarian rule

Additional Information

• Word origin of “totalitarianism” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
• Arendt, Hannah. 1951. The Origins of Totalitarianism. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co.
• Arendt, Hannah. 2002. Hannah Arendt: The Origins of Totalitarianism: Fifty Years Later. New York: Graduate Faculty of Political Science of the New School University.
• Gleason, Abbott. 1995. Totalitarianism: The Inner History of the Cold War. New York: OUP.
• Griffin, Roger, ed. 2005. Fascism, Totalitarianism, and Political Religion. New York: Routledge.
• Halberstam, Michael. 1999. Totalitarianism and the Modern Conception of Politics. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
• Skotheim, Robert Allen. 1971. Totalitarianism and American Social Thought. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
• Žižek, Slavoj. 2001. Did Somebody Say Totalitarianism? Five Interventions in the (Mis)Use of a Notion. New York: Verso.

Related Terms

• authoritarianism
• authority
• cadre
• government
• society

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Cite the Definition of Totalitarianism

ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “totalitarianism.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved October 3, 2023 (https://sociologydictionary.org/totalitarianism/).

APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)

totalitarianism. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/totalitarianism/

Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “totalitarianism.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed October 3, 2023. https://sociologydictionary.org/totalitarianism/.

MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)

“totalitarianism.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 3 Oct. 2023. <https://sociologydictionary.org/totalitarianism/>.