"Anna Karenina principle" meaning in English

See Anna Karenina principle in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Proper name

Etymology: Referring to Leo Tolstoy's 1877 novel Anna Karenina, which begins: “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Popularized by American scientist Jared Diamond (born 1937) in his 1997 non-fiction book Guns, Germs, and Steel, in which he uses it to illustrate why so few wild animals have been successfully domesticated throughout history. Head templates: {{en-prop}} Anna Karenina principle
  1. A notion stating that the success of an endeavor depends upon the fulfilment of several essential conditions, and a deficiency in any one of these factors dooms the endeavor to failure. Wikipedia link: Anna Karenina, Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond, Leo Tolstoy
    Sense id: en-Anna_Karenina_principle-en-name-RPKXYf~N Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header

Download JSON data for Anna Karenina principle meaning in English (2.2kB)

{
  "etymology_text": "Referring to Leo Tolstoy's 1877 novel Anna Karenina, which begins: “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Popularized by American scientist Jared Diamond (born 1937) in his 1997 non-fiction book Guns, Germs, and Steel, in which he uses it to illustrate why so few wild animals have been successfully domesticated throughout history.",
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          "ref": "2011 July 15, Cary L Cooper, Stephen Wood, “Happiness at work: why it counts”, in The Guardian",
          "text": "While there may be some truth in the Anna Karenina principle that all happy families are alike, but every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way, we increasingly have a better understanding of what makes for unhappiness and stress in the workplace.",
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          "ref": "2022 June 22, Gearoid Reidy, “The Fertility Crisis Started in Japan, But It Won’t Stay There”, in The Washington Post",
          "text": "Japan is often convinced that its economic malaise since the 1980s is the root of its ills, but that link seems less than clear. […] It’s a variation on the Anna Karenina principle: All fertile societies are alike; each infertile society is infertile in its own way.",
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{
  "etymology_text": "Referring to Leo Tolstoy's 1877 novel Anna Karenina, which begins: “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Popularized by American scientist Jared Diamond (born 1937) in his 1997 non-fiction book Guns, Germs, and Steel, in which he uses it to illustrate why so few wild animals have been successfully domesticated throughout history.",
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          "type": "quotation"
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          "ref": "2022 June 22, Gearoid Reidy, “The Fertility Crisis Started in Japan, But It Won’t Stay There”, in The Washington Post",
          "text": "Japan is often convinced that its economic malaise since the 1980s is the root of its ills, but that link seems less than clear. […] It’s a variation on the Anna Karenina principle: All fertile societies are alike; each infertile society is infertile in its own way.",
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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-10 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (a644e18 and edd475d). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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