Utopias & Dystopias
- Sep 14, 2014
- 2 min read
Utopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was imported from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book, Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt to create an ideal society, and fictional societies portrayed in literature.
In many cultures, societies, religions, and cosmogonies, there is some myth or memory of a distant past when humankind lived in a primitive and simple state, but at the same time one of perfect happiness and fulfillment.
In those days, the various myths tell us, there was an instinctive harmony between man and nature. Men’s needs were few and their desires limited. Both were easily satisfied by the abundance provided by nature. Accordingly, there were no motives whatsoever for war or oppression. Nor was there any need for hard and painful work. Humans were simple and pious, and felt themselves close to the gods.
According to one anthropological theory, hunter-gatherers were the original affluent society. These mythical or religious archetypes are inscribed in all the cultures and resurge with special vitality when people are in difficult and critical times.
However, the projection of the myth does not take place towards the remote past, but either towards the future or towards distant and fictional places, imagining that at some time of the future, at some point of the space or beyond the death must exist the possibility of living happily.
Dystopia is a futuristic, imagined universe in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through corporate, bureaucratic, technological, moral, or totalitarian control.
Dystopias, through an exaggeratedworst-case scenario, make a criticism about a current trend, societal norm, or political system. A dystopian society has the following characteristics:
– Propaganda is used to control the citizens of society. – Information, independent thought, and freedom are restricted. – A figurehead or concept is worshipped by the citizens of the society. – Citizens are perceived to be under constant surveillance. – Citizens have a fear of the outside world. – Citizens live in a dehumanized state. – The natural world is banished and distrusted. – Citizens conform to uniform expectations. Individuality and dissent are bad. – The society is an illusion of a perfect utopian world.
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