Meaning of cultural pessimism | Babel Free

Definitions

An attitude that sees sociocultural changes (in general or in the present situation) as predominantly tending towards a less moral, less constructive, or generally worse state of affairs; particularly, the idea that at some point civilizations and cultures reach a peak after which they must inevitably decline.

uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“One obvious consequence of our cultural pessimism is its paralysing grip on politics, since the first thing a successful politician has to sell⟳ is an optimistic vision of a better future.”

“But the word Abendland is a strikingly old-fashioned one, meaning literally “evening land⟳” (ie where the sun sets). It was used by Oswald Spengler in his monumental post-first world war tract of German cultural pessimism, Der Untergang des Abendlandes, only weakly translated as The Decline⟳ of the West.”

CEFR level