Meanings
plural familialisms
- uncountableusuallyAn ideology that prioritizes the family by advocating a welfare system that assumes that households, not the state, take responsibility for the care of their members.
However, I chose to refer to this model as “implicit maternalism” instead of “supported familialism” to emphasize the implicit social and political understanding that mothers instead of fathers (or “families”) perform the bulk of care work.
2016 September 15, Sophie Mathieu, “From the Defamilialization to the “Demotherization” of Care Work”, in Social Politics, volume 23, number 4, →DOI, page 582 - uncountableusuallyA cultural value that emphasizes the importance of close family relationships, such as prioritizing the needs of the family higher than that of individuals.
First, Latinas were expected to have higher familialism than European Americans.
2008, Belinda Campos, Christine Dunkel Schetter, Cleopatra M. Abdou, Calvin J. Hobel, Laura M. Glynn, Curt A. Sandman, “Familialism, Social Support, and Stress: Positive Implications for Pregnant Latinas”, in Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, APA, →DOI, page 4Synonyms: familism
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA cultural value that emphasizes the importance of close family relationships, such as prioritizing the needs of the family higher than that of individuals.
Cite this entry
familialism. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/familialism
“familialism.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/familialism. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “familialism,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/familialism.
Source: familialism on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.