Meanings
- uncountableA state of passivity, particularly cognitive or emotional passivity, enabled or facilitated by the appearance or potential of interactivity
[…] interpassivity, the exact obverse of "interactivity," which refers to the sense of being active through another subject who does the job for one […]
1998, Slavoj Žižek, “Cyberspace, or, How to Traverse the Fantasy in the Age of the Retreat of the Big Other”, in Public Culture, volume 10, number 3, page 4832 more examples
A film like Wall-E exemplifies what Robert Pfaller has called ‘interpassivity’: the film performs our anti-capitalism for us, allowing us to continue to consume with impunity.
2009, Mark Fisher, chapter 3, in Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?, Zero Books, →ISBN[…] the true motivation for readymade laughter in TV comedies is interpassivity: I don't have to engage in recognising, sympathising with and interpreting the drama.
2010, Juha Suoranta, Tere Vadén, Wikiworld, Pluto Press, page 133
Origin
Blend of interactivity + passivity, coined by cultural theorist Robert Pfaller.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
interpassivity. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/interpassivity
“interpassivity.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/interpassivity. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “interpassivity,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/interpassivity.
Source: interpassivity on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.