social realism
Unvarnished working life
Social realism is art, literature, or film depicting everyday life and working-class conditions, often with implicit criticism of social structures.
The term emerged in the early twentieth century, distinguishing itself from socialist realism (the Soviet state-mandated style) by emphasizing authentic observation over ideological messaging: The novel's social realism captured Depression-era poverty without sentimentality.
Wall-applied artwork
- Diego RiveraMexican mural master
- documentaryFactual film about reality
- depictionRepresentation in art
- proletariatLaborers lacking capital ownership
gritty · urban · poverty · inequality · propaganda · socialist · industrial · critique
- DickensSurname of Victorian novelist
- naturalismWorldview excluding the supernatural
- determinismDoctrine of causal necessity
- verisimilitudeAppearance of being factual
Steinbeck · Upton Sinclair · tenement · working-class · poverty · factory · sweatshop · realist
Unequal distribution of resources
- povertySevere lack of resources
- injusticeDenial of fair treatment
- exploitationSelfish use of others
- classGrouping by shared traits
struggle · disparity · oppression · labor · unemployment · welfare · affordable housing · minimum wage
Appearance of being factual
- authenticityQuality of being genuine
- documentaryFactual film about reality
- grittyCoarse or courageous
- unflinchingRefusing to show fear
truthfulness · accuracy · fidelity · credibility · unvarnished · slice-of-life · observational · candid
mural
Wall-applied artwork
- Diego RiveraMexican mural master
- documentaryFactual film about reality
- depictionRepresentation in art
proletariat · gritty · urban · poverty · inequality · propaganda · socialist · industrial · critique · commentary
Zola
- DickensSurname of Victorian novelist
- naturalismWorldview excluding the supernatural
- determinismDoctrine of causal necessity
Steinbeck · Upton Sinclair · verisimilitude · tenement · working-class · poverty · factory · sweatshop · realist · sociology
inequality
Unequal distribution of resources
- povertySevere lack of resources
- injusticeDenial of fair treatment
- exploitationSelfish use of others
class · struggle · disparity · oppression · labor · unemployment · welfare · affordable housing · minimum wage · solidarity
verisimilitude
Appearance of being factual
- authenticityQuality of being genuine
- documentaryFactual film about reality
- grittyCoarse or courageous
unflinching · truthfulness · accuracy · fidelity · credibility · unvarnished · slice-of-life · observational · candid · unromanticized
- artfine art, Renaissance, painters, masterpieces, paint
- British LiteratureShakespeare, Dickens, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Austen
- contemporary artconceptual art, contemporary art, digital art, contemporary artists, modern art
- Modern TheaterIbsen, Chekhov, Beckett, O'Neill, Miller
- American proseessays, biographies, autobiographies, creative nonfiction, personal essays
- art subjectssubject matter, landscapes, human form, religion, seascapes
social realismromanticism
Emotional, imaginative worldview
fantasy · escapism · romantic escapism · surrealism · idealism
social realismart for art's sake
Intrinsic value of creation
aestheticism · formalism · decadence · kitsch · religious art
social, society, sociable, realism, antisocial, socialize, socially, unsocial, sociability