English

Noun

binarism ‎(plural binarisms)

1. A pair of opposites; a specific binary.

   the binarism of male and female; the binarism of North and South

2. Belief in, or a mode of thought predicated on, a binary; belief that something (for example, gender) is a binary.
   • 2006, Jeremy Packer, ‎Craig Robertson, Thinking with James Carey: Essays, page 30:

     I am interested in discussing some of the tensions and contradictions of Carey's distinction between the ritual and transmission models of communication and in focusing upon those instances where his binarism breaks down.

   • 2015, Camera Graeca: Photographs, Narratives, Materialities:

     While the most popular interpretative scheme in Barthes's book proved to be his binarism between the studium and the punctum (the theme and the informational content of the photograph on the one hand, and its affective impact, on the other) […]

Related terms

• binarist