Bread and circuses
Etymology
A translation of the Latin "panem et circenses," coined by the Roman satirist Juvenal around 100 AD in his tenth Satire. He lamented that a once-engaged citizenry now craved only two things — grain handouts and the games of the arena — and would sell their votes and duty for them.
noun phrase · /BRED and SUR-kus-iz/
The provision of food and entertainment to pacify a public and distract it from political neglect or decline.
What it names
A durable handle for the strategy of buying acquiescence with cheap comforts and spectacle, so that people trade civic vigilance for full bellies and diversion.
Example
As real wages stagnated, the government leaned harder on tax-free festivals and streaming subsidies — bread and circuses to keep the mood soft.
Related idea
A close cousin of the modern attention economy, which harvests focus for profit; bread and circuses names the older political version, where distraction is dispensed by rulers to blunt discontent.