Meanings
- uncommonuncountableThe transdisciplinary study of the collapse of industrial civilization, and what might succeed it.
For the authors of the Jean Jaurès study, the political scientist Jérôme Fourquet and the pollster Jean-Philippe Dubrulle, collapsology is driven at least in part by economic factors.
2020 October 11, Laura Spinney, “‘Humans weren’t always here. We could disappear’: meet the collapsologists”, in The Guardian, →ISSN2 more examples
This will be the true purpose of collapsology, which we define as the transdisciplinary study of the collapse of our industrial civilization, and what might succeed it, based on the two cognitive modes of reason and intuition and on recognized scientific studies.
2020, Andrew Brown, transl., How Everything Can Collapse […] , John Wiley & Sons, translation of Comme tout peut s'effondrer […] by Pablo Servigne and Raphaël Stevens, →ISBNCollapsology has been likened to the cultural equivalent of an advance directive in the medical world, whereby you specify what actions should be taken for your health if you are no longer able to make decisions[…]
2023, Robert R. Janes, Museums and Societal Collapse: The Museum as Lifeboat, Taylor & Francis, →ISBN
Origin
- Frenchcollapsologie
- Englishcollapsology
From French collapsologie, collapse + -ology.
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
collapsology. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/collapsology
“collapsology.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/collapsology. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “collapsology,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/collapsology.
Source: collapsology on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.