Social Realism

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Social Realism

Trend in U.S. art, originating c. 1930, toward treating themes of social protest — poverty, political corruption, labour-management conflict — in a naturalistic manner. The movement was stimulated in part by the Ash Can school, the Great Depression, and the New Deal's arts patronage programs, including the WPA Federal Art Project. Works in this vein include Ben Shahn's Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti (1931 – 32) and William Gropper's The Senate (1935).

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Literary Glossary: Social Realism

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The Socialist Realism school of literary theory was proposed by Maxim Gorky and established as a dogma by the first Soviet Congress of Writers. It demanded adherence to a communist worldview in works of literature. Its doctrines required an objective viewpoint comprehensible to the working classes and themes of social struggle featuring strong proletarian heroes. Gabriel Garcia Marquez's stories exhibit some characteristics of Socialist Realism.

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