pigmentocracyn.
/ˌpɪɡm(ə)nˈtɒkrəsi/, U.S. /ˌpɪɡm(ə)nˈtɑkrəsi/ A system of social or class distinction based on skin colour; a society based on such a system; the dominant group in such a society.
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society > authority > rule or government > a or the state > [noun] > state ruled by people of one colour
pigmentocracy1949
society > authority > rule or government > rule of any class or persons > ruling class or group > [noun] > other ruling classes or groups
stratocracy1652
Praetorian Guard1735
oligarchy1823
vampirarchy1823
hierocracy1828
gerontocracy1830
Whigocracy1831
plantocracy1839
mediocracy1845
squattocracy1846
snobocracy1853
pedantocracy1856
foolocracy1859
thugocracy1896
pigmentocracy1949
xenocracy1965
1949 Soc. Forces 28 149/1 The political ideology of white South Africans is that of democratic government, yet the reality is more accurately described as a ‘pigmentocracy’.
1952 Economist 6 Dec. 702/2 A natural white aristocracy, with aristocratic virtues as well as vices, was already becoming merely a pigmentocracy.
1994 Guardian 20 Aug. (Weekend Suppl.) 30/2 Many Caribbean islands operated a ‘pigmentocracy’, an elaborate kind of class system based on shades of skin colour.
2003 Times Higher Educ. Suppl. (Nexis) 21 Nov. 22 It may be a ‘pigmentocracy’, where lighter individuals do better than darker ones.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1949