catascopic

Adjective

catascopic (comparative more catascopic, superlative most catascopic)

1. Related to spying or scouting.
   • To be aggelos, to be an angel, to exercise this angelic office, this catascopic office of spy and scout, he really must be free of all attachments.2011, M. Foucault, The Courage of Truth, page 171
2. Related to aerial photography.
   • New strategies were needed too, from the macroscopic (satellite imaging analysis), through the catascopic (aerial photography by kite; fig. 6, sidebar) to the microscopic (water-sieving and soil sampling [...]).2013, S.A. Paspalas, L.A. Beaumont, M.C. Miller, Zagora Archaeological Project, page 12
3. Of scientific forms of thinking which take wider contexts (groups, society, etc.) as a main frame of reference and study and explain individual behaviour in relationship to this broader context.
   • The functionalist approach of societies is catascopic. Social phenomena are conceived of as parts of a whole that are determined by this whole.1980, Sociological Theories: Race and Colonialism, Unesco, page 185

   Antonyms:

   anascopic