Utopianism

Utopianism refers to the imagining of a society or community possessing highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. The term “utopia” was coined by Sir Thomas More in his 1516 Latin work Utopia, derived from the Ancient Greek ou (“not”) and topos (“place”), meaning “no place,” while also alluding to eutopia (“good place”), thereby creating an intentional ambiguity. In contemporary usage, it denotes a non-existent society conceived as significantly better than the present, often serving as a critique of existing political, social, and economic arrangements. Philosophers and theorists have long debated whether utopianism is inherently self-contradictory, as Lyman Tower Sargent has argued, since societies cannot simultaneously satisfy all the diverse and conflicting desires of their members. Nevertheless, it has often been regarded as essential for social progress. Ruth Levitas describes utopianism as “the desire for a better way of being” and a form of “social dreaming,” while Joyce Hertzler identifies imagination as a prerequisite for reform, providing mental freedom from the constraints of the present. Slavoj Žižek suggests that authentic utopias emerge from conditions of crisis so severe that conventional solutions are exhausted, compelling the invention of radically new possibilities. Milan Šimečka observes that utopian beliefs are as old as civilisation itself, appearing in ancient myths, religious visions, and legends.

The history of utopian thought spans multiple intellectual traditions and political contexts. In antiquity, Plato’s Republic (c. 375 BCE) presented one of the earliest utopian designs, envisioning an ideal polis governed by philosopher-kings trained through a rigorous fifty-year educational programme. The society was stratified into rigid classes, with communal living for the ruling elite and a system aimed at achieving justice and harmony through functional specialisation. This early model emphasised the subordination of individual interests to the collective good. In the early modern period, More’s Utopia responded to the social and political crises of 15th- and 16th-century Europe, particularly those in Tudor England. His fictional island society rejected private property, mandated universal labour with an emphasis on agriculture, promoted moderated pleasure, and treated the family as the fundamental unit of the state. Unlike Plato’s Republic, where only the guardian class lived communally, More’s vision required almost all citizens to engage in productive work and share in communal goods.

The 19th century saw the emergence of utopian socialism as a reaction to industrial capitalism, with thinkers such as Charles Fourier, Robert Owen, and Étienne Cabet advocating egalitarian economies, cooperative labour, and the abolition of money. Literary works like Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward (1888) and William Morris’s News from Nowhere (1890) popularised visions of post-capitalist societies. At the same time, the United States experienced a wave of religious utopianism, particularly during the Second Great Awakening, producing communities such as the Shakers, the Harmony Society, the Oneida Community, and the Amana Colonies. These groups practised communal ownership, sought moral purity, and often pursued gender equality, though their practices varied widely.

The early 20th century witnessed a proliferation of radical utopian communities across the globe, often linked to anti-colonial struggles, anarchist movements, and cultural revivalism. Gandhi’s Tolstoy Farm in South Africa, co-founded with Hermann Kallenbach in 1910, functioned as both a political and spiritual experiment in cooperative labour, vegetarianism, celibacy, and simplicity, serving as a precursor to his later ashrams in India. In Japan, the anarchist Nōson Seinen Sha commune sought to implement an egalitarian rural economy based on cooperative farming, grassroots democracy, and the elimination of social hierarchies. In Jamaica, Leonard Howell’s Pinnacle commune became a centre of Rastafarianism, integrating religious revivalism with anti-colonial resistance and black liberation politics. Despite their geographic and cultural diversity, these communities were deeply embedded in the global political transformations of the early 20th century and often positioned themselves as avant-garde alternatives to industrial modernity.

Practice, Embodiment, and Political Function

Utopianism is not merely a theoretical exercise but often a lived practice, expressed through intentional communities that attempt to embody alternative social relations. Scholars have described this as “doing utopia,” which emphasises the everyday and embodied practices through which such communities sustain themselves. Mobility played a central role in the formation and dissemination of these projects. Many utopian leaders drew inspiration from extensive travels: Gandhi’s movement between India, London, and South Africa allowed him to synthesise anti-colonial thought with ascetic practice; Howell’s voyages through Panama, Europe, Asia, and the United States influenced his vision for an autonomous black settlement in Jamaica; and Japanese anarchists, while less physically mobile, undertook wide-ranging intellectual journeys through global literature, theory, and political correspondence. Ironically, even as many of these movements criticised modern technologies like railways or steamships for their perceived moral corruption, they relied upon the same technologies for communication, organisation, and global exchange.

The human body occupied a central place in utopian practice, functioning as both the symbol and site of social transformation. Many utopian communities emphasised agricultural labour, dietary reform, abstention from intoxicants, physical discipline, and spiritual exercises as means of reshaping individual character in alignment with collective ideals. At Tolstoy Farm, Gandhi promoted vegetarianism, fasting, and physical training as integral to moral development and resistance. The Rastafarians of Pinnacle practised collective farming, adhered to a vegetarian Ital diet, and used ritualised cannabis consumption as part of their spiritual discipline and rejection of “Babylon,” their term for Western exploitative systems. Japanese anarchists in the Nōson Seinen Sha placed a similar emphasis on food autonomy, believing that satisfying basic material needs was a precondition for political liberation, summarised in the slogan “Bread and Liberty.”

From the perspective of political theory, utopian thinking performs several important psychological and social functions. First, it fosters social hope, a forward-looking, action-oriented emotion that motivates people to view existing conditions as changeable rather than inevitable. This distinguishes it from fear or guilt, which tend to produce avoidance rather than engagement. Second, it encourages abstract thinking, enabling individuals to envision distant goals and bridge the psychological gap between the present and a desired future. This capacity for high-level construal is linked to greater self-control, prosocial behaviour, and moral decision-making. Third, utopian visions weaken the psychological tendency to justify existing social arrangements, a process known as system justification, by presenting credible alternatives that make the current system appear contingent rather than necessary. The content of these visions matters: for example, “green” ecological utopias have been shown to generate stronger motivation for social change than purely technological or science-fictional ones, suggesting that practicality and participatory potential enhance the political efficacy of utopian thought.

Critiques, Limitations, and Contemporary Relevance

Despite its influence, utopianism faces enduring critiques within political theory. One practical limitation is the short lifespan of many intentional communities, particularly secular ones, which often dissolve due to internal disagreements, financial difficulties, or hostility from surrounding societies. While religious communes tend to survive longer partly due to the high personal sacrifices demanded of members they are not immune to fragmentation and external pressure. Internal contradictions also undermine many utopian projects. Even communities committed to equality have sometimes replicated racial, gender, or class hierarchies. Gandhi, despite his anti-colonial leadership, expressed racial prejudice during his time in South Africa, and Rastafarianism, while challenging racial oppression, retained patriarchal norms. Utopian thinking also carries the risk of escapism, in which the imagined ideal functions as a substitute for political engagement rather than a stimulus for action. Detached from practical strategy, utopian visions can become inward-looking exercises in fantasy. Moreover, many radical utopian communities have been entangled with the very systems they sought to reject, relying on capitalist markets, colonial infrastructure, or state toleration for their survival. This complicity reflects a broader paradox in which utopian projects are both products of and reactions against modernity. An uncritical romanticisation of “nature” and “natural living” has at times allowed such projects to be co-opted into conservative, reactionary, or even authoritarian political agendas.

From a theoretical standpoint, Marxist critiques have distinguished between “utopian socialism” dismissed by Marx and Engels as idealistic and disconnected from material conditions and “scientific socialism,” which grounds revolutionary change in historical and economic analysis. For Marxists, utopianism risks ignoring the structural dynamics of capitalism and the necessity of class struggle, instead relying on moral persuasion or exemplary communities to inspire change. In contrast, liberal political theory has often treated utopianism more sympathetically, framing it as a source of normative ideals and as a counterweight to political realism. The 20th century also witnessed the emergence of dystopian literature, from Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four to Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, as a critical inversion of utopianism. These dystopias function both as warnings and as implicit arguments for the continued value of utopian thinking, albeit tempered by realism about human limitations and institutional design.

In contemporary politics, utopianism remains relevant as both an imaginative resource and a practical framework for activism. Environmental movements employ ecological utopias to mobilise support for climate action; feminist theory uses utopian thinking to envision gender equality beyond current legal reforms; and technology ethics debates often involve competing utopian and dystopian visions of artificial intelligence and biotechnology. Even within international relations, ideas of cosmopolitan democracy and global governance reflect a form of political utopianism grounded in institutional proposals. While its practical realisation is constrained by the complexities of human societies, utopianism continues to function as a vital mode of critique and aspiration, reminding political actors that the boundaries of the possible are historically contingent and open to transformation.

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Utopianism