totalism

noun

1. (rare, uncountable, usually)A social, economic and/or political system in which some authority (e.g. the state or "the market") wields absolute power; totalitarianism.

   “If the political totalism of the fascist and communist world once tried, at horrendous human costs, to subordinate all economic, social, and cultural activity to the demands of an overarching state, the economic totalism of unleashed market economics seems now to be trying (at costs yet to be fully reckoned) to subordinate politics, society, and culture to the demands of an overarching market.”

   “They contrasted the “organic” “leadership” organizations of German and Italian totalism with the “mechanical,” “dictatorship” organization of communist (Soviet) totalism.”

   “Whenever it can, social power will tend as soon as possible toward totalism. Such social totalism is always a breath away from totalitarianism […] […] The apostles find a way to testify, in talk and in walk, about a truth that is vigorously and resolutely outside the totalism of Rome.”

2. (countable, rare)A philosophy, ideology or belief system that is total in its scope, one that covers everything.

   “To postmodernists, modernism gave the world science, reason, western civilization, Marxism, Freudianism, and other totalisms. Each of these totalisms tells a grand story that relates everything to everything else by using the system's universal principle as a theme.”

   “And ideologists pride themselves above all on what we might call their ‘totalism’. Georg Lukacs, for instance, regarded such totalism as the outstanding characteristic of Marxism: 'It is not the primacy of economic motives in historical explanation that constitutes the decisive difference between Marxism and bourgeois science, but the point of view of totality', writes Lukacs.”

3. (rare, uncountable)Totality; (the) entirety (of something).

   “Once the totalism of Sagehood is grasped, the disciple can throw away his li-books; he will be a perfect ritual actor naturally.”

4. (rare, uncountable)Totalness, absoluteness; the characteristic of being absolute in nature or scope.

   “The ideological fervor, the abhorrence of compromise, the attraction to conflict, and the totalism of his family's rejection of white culture were the biographical themes that served him best as he tried to reach the hearts of his followers.”

   “The totalism of his commitment led, in turn, to his practice of taking charge of even the smallest matters and of ruling autocratically, since he believed God was holding him completely accountable for every act of his government.”