The Economist Book of isms: From Abolitionism to Zoroastrianism

"Isms" help to inform us, educate us and sometimes even amuse us. What would life be like without altrusim or cynicism, dogmatism or optimism? Below are just some of the "isms" explained in this collection of more than 400. Absolutism Albigensianism Aphorism Atavism Behaviouralism Bolshevism Buddhism Butskellism Calvinism Capitalism Communism Confucianism Dadaism Deontologism Dystopianism Eclecticism Empiricism Euphemism Existentialism Fascism Fauvism Fourierism Frotteurism Gaullism Geophagism Globalism Gnosticism Hedonism Hermeticism Hypopituitarism Idealism Ignosticism Irredentism Isomorphism Jansenism Jingoism Journalism Judaism Kabbalism Keynesianism Know-nothingism Lacanianism Leninism Lollardism Malthusianism Manichaeism Maoism Marxism Masochism Narcissism Neologism Nestorianism Obscurantism Onanism Orphism Ostracism Paganism Phallocentrism Poststructuralism Quakerism Quietism Quixotism Racism Reaganism Reductionism Romanticism Sacerdotalism Sadism Sapphism Solipsism Stoicism Sufism Tantrism Taoism Thatcherism Transvestism Trotskyism Ultramontanism Unilateralism Utilitarianism Utopianism Valetudinarianism Vorticism Voyeurism Wahhabism Zeism Zionism Zoomorphism