landlordism
Noun (uncountable): The system, practice, or social and economic conditions associated with the ownership of land by landlords, especially when characterized by absentee ownership, exploitation of tenants, and concentration of land in the hands of a few.
- (The system of land ownership by absentee landlords caused hardship for tenant farmers.)
- (The practice of land ownership by landlords is seen as promoting economic inequality.)
- (The system of landlord dominance over tenants was a key conflict.)
"Absentee landlordism": A specific form where landlords do not reside on or near their properties, often leading to neglect of land and tenants.
- Absentee landlordism in colonial contexts often resulted in the exploitation of local populations. (Landlords living far away mismanaged the land and tenants.)
"Feudal landlordism": A historical form tied to feudal systems, where landlords held legal and social authority over tenants.
- Feudal landlordism gradually gave way to capitalist agriculture. (The old feudal system of land ownership was replaced by modern farming.)
Landlord (n): a person who owns land or property that is rented to others.
- The landlord raised the rent on the apartment. (The property owner increased the rental fee.)
Landlady (n): a female landlord.
- The landlady was known for being fair to her tenants. (The female property owner treated renters justly.)
- Tenancy system: the arrangement by which land is rented from a landlord.
- Land tenure: the legal regime in which land is owned or held.
- Property ownership: the state of owning land or buildings (can be neutral, but in context often implies landlord rights).
"Live off the land": to rely on land ownership for income, often without active work.
- The aristocracy lived off the land through landlordism. (They derived wealth from rents without farming themselves.)
"Land of the free": sometimes used ironically in discussions of landlordism to highlight tenant dependency.
- Despite being called a land of the free, landlordism kept many farmers in debt. (The ideal of freedom contrasted with tenant exploitation.)
- Landlordism is often discussed in Marxist and agrarian reform literature as a barrier to economic development and social justice.
- The term is frequently used in critiques of colonial landlordism, where foreign or absentee landlords controlled land in colonized regions.