Floridization

English

WOTD – 13 September 2020

Etymology

From Florida +‎ -ization (suffix denoting the act, process, or result of doing something). Sense 2 (“phenomenon of the percentage of seniors in a specific region progressively increasing as the population ages”) refers to the sizable number of retirees who settle in the US state.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌflɒɹɪdaɪˈzeɪʃ(ə)n/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌflɔɹɪdaɪˈzeɪʃən/, /ˌflɔɹədəˈzeɪʃən/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən
• Hyphenation: Flo‧rid‧i‧za‧tion

Noun

Floridization (uncountable) (American spelling, Oxford British English)

1. The process of coming to resemble the US state of Florida in some respect.
   • 1977, Howard Senzel, Baseball and the Cold War: Being a Soliloquy on the Necessity of Baseball, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, →ISBN, page 264:

     And some were annoyed just because they respected Cuban culture and resented its increasing Floridization.

   • 1986, Australian Book Review, Melbourne, Vic.: National Book Council, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 7, column 3:

     [T]he bland refusal of public accountability which has allowed unparalleled extravagance in the provision of space, furniture, fittings and accoutrements for the Parliament while leaving schools ill-equipped and underprovided; and it does not record the results of the ‘Floridisation’ policy [...]

   • 2002 September 26, “Is America moving leftward?”, in The Economist‎^[1], volume 364, London: Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 98:

     Indeed, another plausible view is the Floridisation of American politics, the idea that it is now in an exact two-party balance.

   • 2017 March 18, Nathaniel Manheru, “2018: Sifting real issues from so much chaff”, in The Herald‎^[2], Harare, Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe Newspapers, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 13 October 2019:

     Taking after what America did to [Fidel] Castro's Cuba, since 2000, we have witnessed a trend towards "Floridisation" of Zimbabwean politics, which is to say an attempt to encourage an outbound movement of Zimbabwean nationals in the hope of creating a critical voting mass that can be relied upon to capture the Zimbabwean State, Hamid Karzai-style.

2. (US, demography) The phenomenon of the percentage of seniors in a specific region progressively increasing as the population ages.
   • 1998, AFTRA, New York, N.Y.: American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 27:

     The investment banker Pete Peterson calls this "the Floridization of America." The decline in births, right after the peak years, has had an impact on every business that targets young adults.

   • 2000 February 1, Robyn I. Stone, “Toward Person-Centered Care”, in Nursing Homes‎^[3], Cleveland, Oh.: International Pub. Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 10 March 2016:

     Although the percentage and the sheer volume of elders and people with disabilities living in the United States in the 21st century is increasing, their distribution will vary across the country; the Floridization of the country will happen in pockets.

   • 2004, Dennis Clark Pirages, Theresa Manley DeGeest, “Demographic Change and Ecological Insecurity”, in Ecological Security: An Evolutionary Perspective on Globalization, Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, →ISBN, page 48:

     While the United States is not yet severely impacted, many European countries and Japan—much further along the road to Floridization—are already confronted with the need for action. The consequences of aging are even more dire in these countries because their populations "are aging even faster, birthrates are lower, the influx of young immigrants from developing countries is smaller, public pension benefits are more generous, and private pension systems are weaker."

   • 2005, The Asian Economic Review, volume 47, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh: Indian Institute of Economics, →OCLC, page 1:

     The greatest twin victory of humanity over health issues has delivered one of the greatest challenges to man: Population ageing. Often described as ‘Floridisation of the World’, population ageing is the outcome of man’s victory over death and deceases as well as unwanted child bearing [...].

   • 2013 September, Damien Ma, William Adams, “Welfare: Socialism with Chinese … Actually No, Not Socialism at All”, in In Line Behind a Billion People: How Scarcity Will Define China’s Ascent in the Next Decade, Upper Saddle River, N.J.: FT Press, →ISBN, part II (Social Scarcity), page 103:

     Even if policy shifts resources away from hard investment and back into social spending, the "Floridization" of Chinese demographics will intensify the shortage of healthcare provision over the next decade, worsening the frayed contract between patients, providers, and the government.

Alternative forms

• Floridisation (British spelling)

Related terms

• Florida
• Floridian
• Floridize

Translations

process of coming to resemble the US state of Florida in some respect

phenomenon of the percentage of seniors in a specific region progressively increasing as the population ages