ruinism

English

Etymology

ruin +‎ -ism

Noun

ruinism (uncountable)

1. An ideology that leads to the destruction of society.
   • 1880, T. B. Cauldwell, Wisconsin Baptist anniversaries‎^[1], page 113:

     Ignorance, cast, and superstition abound in the south; Unitarianism and socialism in the east; Mormonism, Anarchism, and Romanism in the west; a stupendous race problem in the north; and ruinism both north and south and east and west.

   • 1952, Northwest Medicine, page 62:

     Some call the present trend collectivism, some call it statism, but I call it ruinism. . . . Taxes have now reached the confiscatory stage . . . The reckless spending of the Truman administration has precipitated a federal fiscal crisis which many of us may not fully realize . . . There are many doors to the house of socialism.

   • 1957, George Jean Nathan, Henry Louis Mencken, The American Mercury - Volume 85, page 77:

     Whether we call it Communism, Welfarism or Socialism, it leads to the same thing: ruinism."

2. (art) An enthusiasm for appreciating ruins or sites of destruction.
   • 1991, Armando Ravaglioli, Rome, a Journey of Dreams, →ISBN:

     At that time, "ruinism" actually became an artistic category, in demonstration of the depth of sentiment the ancient glories excited in the viewer's soul.

   • 2011, Frederik Le Roy, Tickle Your Catastrophe!, →ISBN, page 34:

     Already in the early 1960s, however, in the wake of John Cage's aleatoric compositions, some traces of 'ruinism' could be found, for instance, in Walter De Maria's radical proposal of May 1960 for an Art Yard, published in La Monte Young's An Anthology.

   • 2012, Jean-François Lyotard, Herman Parret, Miscellaneous Texts, →ISBN, page 219:

     This is the inexplicable, says the Northern European: a Bauhaus of ruins. But there is no architecture in these rooms lacking arche. And no complacency for ruinism, a general lack of complacency.

   • 2013, Michel Delon, Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment, →ISBN, page 1160:

     The growth of tourism and the increase in the number of “picturesque voyages” were likewise crucial factors, since “ruinism,” a style first manifested in the veduta (view), was particularly popular among travelers.

3. A prevailing belief in the imminent destruction of society or the environment; an apocalyptic worldview.
   • 1983, Arts & Architecture - Volume 2, page 14:

     Gone are the dark days of myopic ruinism and the primitive huts of fragmented postmodern pessimism. As visionary idealists, we must escape the oppressive grip of cynical postmodern despair ...

   • 1995, Vladislav Todorov, Red Square, Black Square: Organon for Revolutionary Imagination‎^[2], page 182:

     ALCHEMY OF DECAY AND RUINISM The post-communist prophets hone their sharp ironies, herald the coming of doomsday, draw apocalyptic visions.

   • 1997, Paul Rabinow, Architecture of fear (review on cover)‎^[3], page 322:

     This important collection tracks the myriad forms of defensible spaces, from simple walls to phantasmagoric 'neo-ruinism.'