theatrocracy

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   government by citizens assembled in a theater, especially as a description of ancient Athenian democracy

   The historian used theatrocracy for the political power exercised by Athenians gathered as a public audience.

2. 2
   noun

   the dominance of popular audience judgment over artistic or intellectual standards

   Plato condemned theatrocracy when spectators began treating taste as a matter of majority rule.

From Greek theatrokratia, combining theatron ("theater, place for seeing") with -kratia ("rule, power"). Plato used the idea critically for the authority claimed by theater audiences over music and poetry.

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