Utopia Essay Research Paper UtopiaUtopias are generally

Utopia Essay, Research Paper

Utopia

Utopias are generally said to be societies in which the political,

social and economic troubles hampering its inhabitants has been done away with.

Instead the state is there to serve the people and ensure the peacefulness and

happiness of everyone. The word utopia, which means “no place” in Greek, was

first used to mean a perfect society in 1516 in the publication of Saint Thomas

More’s story “Utopia”. The story depicted life as it was with its people and

social institutions on an imaginary island. More’s Utopia gained critical

acclaim and a wide audience. The term was subsequently used by all prominent

social thinkers and visionaries to define other concepts of this kind.

During the 19th century many attempts were made to actually establish

communities which followed the beliefs of a utopian society. Most were

experiments in utopian socialism. Although they differed considerably in their

specific views, most of them agreed that ideal societies could be created

without much difficulty. They felt all that was needed was to have the

formation of a few small, cooperative communities made up of their followers.

The comte de Saint-Simon regarded technological progress and large scale

economic organization as being the most important keys to the establishment of

these communities. It was felt that industrial growth was the key to happiness

for people in the future.

Another visionary, Fourier, was quite the opposite of Saint-Simon. He

Spoke strongly against the use of industry. His opinion was that agricultural

communities would be better suited for this situation. He favored these

communities as he saw them as small, self-sufficient and more importantly, free

from the restraints that were being imposed by civilization.

Experimental societies based on the theories of the utopians were also

set up in Europe and the Unites States. They included Robert Owen’s cooperative

communities in New Harmony, lnd., and New Lanark, Scotland. Most of these did

not survive long. One of the longer lasting of these communities was the Oneida

Community. It lasted from 1848 to 1881. By the middle of the 19th century the

utopian socialists were beginning to be eclipsed by more militant radical

movements. These included anarchism and Marxism.

In more modern times, utopianism has more frequently been used to

suggest a naive and impractical approach to reality. Most comes by way of

literature with stories such as a way to expose modern societies social ills.

Some prominent examples of this type of writing include George Orwell’s 1984 and

Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World”.

The places mentioned in those stories were all imaginary. Such a place

does not exist in the world as we know it today. Therefore the word imaginary

comes into play. I have heard of places that have experimented with the concept

of a utopian environment but none have truly succeeded. One example is the

community in Chicago which George Pullman attempted to control. He attempted to

create a community in which every person was taken care for, all had adequate

housing, medical attention and so forth. In return everyone would work for

Pullman’s company. The better he provided for his workers, the better he

expected their attitude towards working for him would be. Not everything turned

out as planned though. A panic in 1893 lead to Pullman lowering the employees

wages, he did not however lower the employees rent and other charges in the

company town. This lead to what was called the Pullman strike. The anticipated

utopia had turned into a dystopia. (A dystopia would be the exact opposite of a

utopia.) Federal troops arrived on July 4th to try to control the unrest.

Rioting broke out and several strikers were killed. It wasn’t until July 10th

that the troops were able to control the situation.

The word utopia however does not necessarily have to be used to define a

society. A utopia can also be used to define a certain situation as it is

perceived by an individual. A person who feels that their life at the specific

point in time is perfect or a person who is involved with a certain group or

organization can very well feel that they are living in a utopic way.

Regardless of what others may feel, These people feel content that their choices

are the right ones.

These choices are not always the right ones however. Let’s take the

example of the Koresh commune in Waco, Texas. The people who migrated to this

place did so by their own choice. It was their belief that the ideas on how to

live shared by David Koresh were the right ones. They felt that this was the

way that they wanted to live their lives. The inhabitants disagreed with the

ways of society and chose to live in a way completely shut off from the rest of

the world. Meanwhile, to the outside world was well aware that wh

Внимание, отключите Adblock

Вы посетили наш сайт со включенным блокировщиком рекламы!
Ссылка для скачивания станет доступной сразу после отключения Adblock!

Скачать