nurturistadj.n.
/ˈnəːtʃ(ə)rɪst/, U.S. /ˈnərtʃərəst/ Chiefly Sociology.
A. adj.
Relating to or advocating the theory that sociological or environmental factors (rather than genetic or biological ones) are dominant in human development. Opposed to naturist.
ΚΠ
1977 Science 13 May 759/1 ‘Meme’..is hardly a sop likely to placate the guardians of the nurturist view of the human psyche.
1989 Soviet Stud. 41 256 Soviet social hygienists espoused nurturist premises which fit well with the official belief in the possibility of radical transformation of man and society.
1992 Economist 26 Dec. 62/3 The most successful assault on the nurturist orthodoxy..has come not over race, or intelligence, or crime, but over sex.
B. n.
A person who considers that human development is dominated by sociological or environmental factors, rather than genetic or biological ones. Opposed to naturist.
ΚΠ
1990 Science 2 Nov. 699/2 Mark B. Adams identifies Lysenko's influence in the configuration of the Soviet nature–nurture debate, which pits conservative ‘nurturists’ or environmentalists against liberal defenders of heredity and genetics.
1992 Economist 26 Dec. 62/3 In the 1970s the nurturists vigorously repulsed an attack on their cherished beliefs by the then fledgling discipline of sociobiology.
1996 R. Li Theory of Conceptual Intelligence ii. 52 The nurturist stresses the importance of experience, social factors, and education in the development of intelligence.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1977