lateralism

Noun

lateralism (countable and uncountable, plural lateralisms)

1. (uncountable) An organizational structure in which competing interests of equal power negotiate with each other.
   • Thus, career ladders existed in the industry as a whole, not in the Royal Court itself, which contributed to a sense of lateralism rather than hierarchy in the hotel. Lateralism was also reflected in the Royal Court's minimal specialization, largely because of its size.2007, Rachel Sherman, Class Acts: Service and Inequality in Luxury Hotels, →ISBN, page 88
   • The appropriate organisational structure would be open with a preponderance for lateralism.2012, S.A. Cropper, Michael C. Jackson, Paul Keys, Operational Research and the Social Sciences, →ISBN, page 339
2. (countable) A scheme for how nations work together or compete, such as multilateralism, bilateralism, unilateralism, etc.
   • One simple distinction commonly made among the lateralisms is the number of parties involved in the transaction.1994, Journal of International Affairs - Volume 48, page 101
   • While I should like to believe this— especially now that US commitment to multilateralism is diluted by other "lateralisms" (Summers, 1991)-- more needs to be done before it can be considered proven beyond reasonable doubt.1999, L. Alan Winters, Regionalism versus Multilateralism, →ISBN, page 2
3. Dominance or specialization by one side of the body; lateralization.
   • Tonnini has found also that there is a difference of temperature in the two sides of the body, and of sensibility in them, so that one of the salient characters of moral insanity was lateralism, or, so to speak, sensory left-handedness, that is, more sensibility on one side than on the other, and...1888, Charles Hamilton Hughes, The Alienist and Neurologist - Volume 9, page 415
   • Blau gives a list of some 40 tests by which handedness or " preferred lateralism " may be determined.1962, Richard Sydney Allison, The Senile Brain: A Clinical Study, page 49
4. Lateral thinking; the process of approaching a subject from multiple sides, or an instance of this process.
   • The point of lateralism is to strike a compromise between what will sell and what ought to be explored.2001, Peter Davison, Reviving the muse: essays on music after modernism, page 238
   • Like someone who'd learned how best to cope with chronic illness, he never allowed himself to think of his paranoia as an aspect of self. It was there, constantly and intimately, and he relied on it professionally, but he wouldn't allow it to spread, become jungle. He cultivated it on its own...2004, William Gibson, Pattern Recognition, →ISBN