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paternalism

[puh-tur-nl-iz-uhm]

noun

the system, principle, or practice of managing or governing individuals, businesses, nations, etc., in the manner of a father dealing benevolently and often intrusively with his children: The employees objected to the paternalism of the old president.

Origin:
1880–85; paternal + -ism

Related forms

pa·ter·nal·ist, noun, adjective

pa·ter·nal·is·tic, adjective

pa·ter·nal·is·ti·cal·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Paternalism is always a great word to know.

So is interrobang. Does it mean:

a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.

a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.

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Example Sentences

Singapore's paternalism also has an element of social control and collective propriety.

Singapore embodies a peculiar mix of the free market, state-led industrialisation and paternalism.

Paternalism is one of the great dangers in these sort of situation.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

paternalism (pəˈtɜːnəˌlɪzəm)

—n
	the attitude or policy of a government or other authority that manages the affairs of a country, company, community, etc, in the manner of a father, esp in usurping individual responsibility and the liberty of choice

pa'ternalist

—n, —*adj*

paternal'istic

—*adj*

paternal'istically

—*adv*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

paternalism

"government as by a father over his children," 1881, from paternal + -ism; paternalistic was in use by 1890.

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"In the small town each citizen had done something in his own way to build the community. The town booster had a vision of the future which he tried to fulfill. The suburb dweller by contrast started with the future—with a shopping center for twice the population, with a school building already built, with churches constructed, with parks and playgrounds and swimming pools. These were as essential to building a suburb as the prematurely grand hotel had been to building a city in the wilderness. In large developments where the developer had a plan, and even in the smaller developments, there was a new kind of paternalism: not the quasi-feudal paternalism of the company town, nor the paternalism of the utopian ideologue. This new kind of paternalism was fostered by the American talent for organization, by the rising twentieth century American standard of living, and by the American genius for mass production. It was the paternalism of the market place. The suburban developer, unlike the small-town booster, seldom intended to live in the community he was building. For him community was a commodity, a product to be sold at a profit."

-Daniel J. Boorstin

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paternalism

pa·ter·nal·ism