A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...

society A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Socie ...

that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by

Sir Thomas More Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VIII as Lord ...

for his 1516 book ''

Utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', describing a fictional ...

'', describing a

fictional island Below is a list of islands that have been invented for films, literature, television, or other media. A * The Abarat: 25 islands in an archipelago, one for each hour and one for all the hours, from the series '' The Books of Abarat'' by Clive ...

society in the

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...

. However, it may also denote an

intentional community An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, ...

. In common parlance, the word or its adjectival form may be used synonymously with "impossible", "far-fetched" or "deluded". Hypothetical utopias focus on—amongst other things—equality, in such categories as

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

and

justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

, with the method and structure of proposed implementation varying based on ideology.

Lyman Tower Sargent Lyman Tower Sargent (born 9 February 1940) is an American academic, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Sargent's main academic interests are in utopian studies, political theory, American studies and b ...

argues that the nature of a utopia is inherently contradictory because societies are not

homogeneous Homogeneity and heterogeneity are concepts often used in the sciences and statistics relating to the uniformity of a substance or organism. A material or image that is homogeneous is uniform in composition or character (i.e. color, shape, siz ...

and have desires which conflict and therefore cannot simultaneously be satisfied. To quote: The opposite of a utopia is a

dystopia A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...

or cacotopia.

Utopian and dystopian fiction Utopian and dystopian fiction are genres of speculative fiction that explore social and political structures. Utopian fiction portrays a setting that agrees with the author's ethos, having various attributes of another reality intended to appeal to ...

has become a popular literary category. Despite being common parlance for something imaginary, utopianism inspired and was inspired by some reality-based fields and concepts such as

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

file sharing File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digital media, such as computer programs, multimedia (audio, images and video), documents or electronic books. Common methods of storage, transmission and dispersion include r ...

social networks A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for an ...

universal basic income Universal basic income (UBI) is a social welfare proposal in which all citizens of a given population regularly receive an unconditional transfer payment, that is, without a means test or need to work. It would be received independently of a ...

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

open borders An open border is a border that enables free movement of people (and often of goods) between jurisdictions with no restrictions on movement and is lacking substantive border control. A border may be an open border due to intentional legislation ...

and even pirate bases.

Etymology and history

Thomas More Utopia 1516 VTOPIAE INSVLAE FIGVRA (Bibliothèque Nationale de France)

The word ''utopia'' was coined in 1516 from

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

by the Englishman

for his Latin text ''

''. It literally translates as “no place”, coming from the el, οὐ (“not”) and τόπος (“place”), and meant any non-existent society, when ‘described in considerable detail’. However, in standard usage, the word's meaning has shifted and now usually describes a non-existent society that is intended to be viewed ''as considerably better'' than contemporary society. In his original work, More carefully pointed out the similarity of the word to ''eutopia'', meaning “good place”, from el, εὖ (“good” or “well”) and τόπος (“place”), which ostensibly would be the more appropriate term for the concept in modern English. The pronunciations of ''eutopia'' and ''utopia'' in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

are

identical Two things are identical if they are the same, see Identity (philosophy). Identical may also refer to: * ''Identical'' (Hopkins novel), a 2008 young adult novel by Ellen Hopkins * ''Identical'' (Turow novel), a 2013 legal drama novel by Scott T ...

, which may have given rise to the change in meaning. ''Dystopia'', a term meaning "bad place" coined in 1868, draws on this latter meaning. The opposite of a utopia, ''

'' is a concept which surpassed ''utopia'' in popularity in the fictional literature from the 1950s onwards, chiefly because of the impact of George Orwell's ''

Nineteen Eighty-Four ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' (also stylised as ''1984'') is a dystopian social science fiction novel and cautionary tale written by the English writer George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and final ...

''. In 1876, writer

Charles Renouvier Charles Bernard Renouvier (; January 1, 1815 – September 1, 1903) was a French philosopher. He considered himself a "Swedenborg of history" who sought to update the philosophy of Kantian liberalism and individualism for the socio-economic rea ...

published a novel called ''

Uchronia The term ''uchronia'' refers to a hypothetical or fictional time period of our world, in contrast to altogether-fictional lands or worlds. The concept is similar to alternate history, but uchronic times are not easily defined but are placed ma ...

'' (

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

''Uchronie''). The

neologism A neologism Greek νέο- ''néo''(="new") and λόγος /''lógos'' meaning "speech, utterance"] is a relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but that has not been fully accepted int ...

, using ''chronos'' instead of ''topos'', has since been used to refer to non-existent idealized times in fiction, such as

Philip Roth Philip Milton Roth (March 19, 1933 – May 22, 2018) was an American novelist and short story writer. Roth's fiction—often set in his birthplace of Newark, New Jersey—is known for its intensely autobiographical character, for philosophicall ...

's ''

The Plot Against America ''The Plot Against America'' is a novel by Philip Roth published in 2004. It is an alternative history in which Franklin D. Roosevelt is defeated in the presidential election of 1940 by Charles Lindbergh. The novel follows the fortunes of the R ...

'' (2004)'','' and

Philip K. Dick Philip Kindred Dick (December 16, 1928March 2, 1982), often referred to by his initials PKD, was an American science fiction writer. He wrote 44 novels and about 121 short stories, most of which appeared in science fiction magazines during his l ...

's ''

The Man in the High Castle ''The Man in the High Castle'' (1962), by Philip K. Dick, is an alternative history novel wherein the Axis Powers won World War II. The story occurs in 1962, fifteen years after the end of the war in 1947, and depicts the political intrigues be ...

'' (1962)''.'' According to the ''Philosophical Dictionary'', proto-utopian ideas begin as early as the period of

ancient Greece Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...

and Rome, medieval heretics,

peasant revolts This is a chronological list of conflicts in which peasants played a significant role. Background The history of peasant wars spans over two thousand years. A variety of factors fueled the emergence of the peasant revolt phenomenon, including: ...

and establish themselves in the period of the early capitalism,

reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

and

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

(

Hus Hus or HUS may refer to: Medicine * Hemolytic-uremic syndrome, a disease characterized by haemolytic anemia, kidney problems and a low platelet count People * Hus (surname) * Hus family, an 18th-century French dynasty of ballet dancers and ac ...

, Müntzer,

More More or Mores may refer to: Computing * MORE (application), outline software for Mac OS * more (command), a shell command * MORE protocol, a routing protocol * Missouri Research and Education Network Music Albums * ''More!'' (album), by Booka ...

, Campanella),

democratic revolutions Democratic Revolution () is a Chilean Centre-left politics, centre-left to Left-wing politics, left-wing political party, founded in 2012 by some of the leaders of the 2011–13 Chilean student protests, 2011 Chilean student protests, most notab ...

( Meslier, Morelly, Mably,

Winstanley Winstanley may refer to: People: *Alan Winstanley, British record producer *Bill Winstanley, English footballer who played for Stoke City *Dean Winstanley, English darts player *Eric Winstanley, English footballer *Gerrard Winstanley, 17th-century ...

, later Babeufists,

Blanquists Blanquism refers to a conception of revolution generally attributed to Louis Auguste Blanqui (1805–1881) which holds that socialist revolution should be carried out by a relatively small group of highly organised and secretive conspirators. Havi ...

,) and in a period of turbulent development of capitalism that highlighted antagonisms of

capitalist society Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, private pr ...

( Saint-Simon, Fourier,

Owen Owen may refer to: Origin: The name Owen is of Irish and Welsh origin. Its meanings range from noble, youthful, and well-born. Gender: Owen is historically the masculine form of the name. Popular feminine variations include Eowyn and Owena. ...

, Cabet, Lamennais,

Proudhon Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (, , ; 15 January 1809, Besançon – 19 January 1865, Paris) was a French socialist,Landauer, Carl; Landauer, Hilde Stein; Valkenier, Elizabeth Kridl (1979) 959 "The Three Anticapitalistic Movements". ''European Social ...

and their followers).

Definitions and interpretations

Famous writers about utopia: * "There is nothing like a dream to create the future. Utopia to-day, flesh and blood tomorrow." —

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

* "A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing. And when Humanity lands there, it looks out, and, seeing a better country, sets sail. Progress is the realisation of Utopias." —

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

* "Utopias are often only premature truths." —

Alphonse De Lamartine Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine (; 21 October 179028 February 1869), was a French author, poet, and statesman who was instrumental in the foundation of the Second Republic and the continuation of the Tricolore as the flag of France. ...

* "None of the abstract concepts comes closer to fulfilled utopia than that of eternal peace." —

Theodor W. Adorno Theodor W. Adorno ( , ; born Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund; 11 September 1903 – 6 August 1969) was a German philosopher, sociologist, psychologist, musicologist, and composer. He was a leading member of the Frankfurt School of critical t ...

* "I think that there is always a part of utopia in any romantic relationship." —

Pedro Almodovar Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance langua ...

* "In ourselves alone the absolute light keeps shining, a sigillum falsi et sui, mortis et vitae aeternae

alse signal and signal of eternal life and death itself The ALSE (Apollo Lunar Sounder Experiment) (also known as Scientific Experiment S-209, according to NASA designations) was a ground-penetrating radar (subsurface sounder) experiment that flew on the Apollo 17 mission. Mission and Science This expe ...

and the fantastic move to it begins: to the external interpretation of the daydream, the cosmic manipulation of a concept that is utopian in principle." —

Ernst Bloch Ernst Simon Bloch (; July 8, 1885 – August 4, 1977; pseudonyms: Karl Jahraus, Jakob Knerz) was a German Marxist philosopher. Bloch was influenced by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Karl Marx, as well as by apocalyptic and religious thinkers ...

* "When I die, I want to die in a Utopia that I have helped to build." —

Henry Kuttner Henry Kuttner (April 7, 1915 – February 3, 1958) was an American author of science fiction, fantasy and horror. Early life Henry Kuttner was born in Los Angeles, California in 1915. Kuttner (1829–1903) and Amelia Bush (c. 1834–1911), the ...

* "A man must be far gone in Utopian speculations who can seriously doubt that if these nitedStates should either be wholly disunited, or only united in partial confederacies, the subdivisions into which they might be thrown would have frequent and violent contests with each other." —

Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first United States secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795. Born out of wedlock in Charlest ...

, ''Federalist'' No. 6. * "Most dictionaries associate utopia with ideal commonwealths, which they characterize as an empirical realization of an ideal life in an ideal society. Utopias, especially social utopias, are associated with the idea of social justice." — Lukáš Perný

Utopian socialist Utopian socialism is the term often used to describe the first current of modern socialism and socialist thought as exemplified by the work of Henri de Saint-Simon, Charles Fourier, Étienne Cabet, and Robert Owen. Utopian socialism is often de ...

Etienne Cabet in his utopian book ''

The Voyage to Icaria ''The Voyage to Icaria'' (French: ''Voyage en Icarie'' ) is a novel written by Étienne Cabet and published in 1840. In this romance, he described a communistic utopia, whose terms he had dreamed out; and he began at once to try to realize his dr ...

'' cited the definition from the contemporary ''Dictionary of ethical and political sciences'':

Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 p ...

and

Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
''

Slavoj Žižek Slavoj Žižek (, ; ; born 21 March 1949) is a Slovenian philosopher, cultural theorist and public intellectual. He is international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, visiting professor at New Y ...

told about utopia: Philosopher

Milan Šimečka Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

said: Philosopher

Richard Stahel Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'strong ...

said:

Varieties

Chronologically, the first recorded Utopian proposal is

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

's ''

Republic A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...

''. Part conversation, part fictional depiction and part policy proposal, ''Republic'' would categorize citizens into a rigid class structure of "golden," "silver," "bronze" and "iron" socioeconomic classes. The golden citizens are trained in a rigorous 50-year-long educational program to be benign oligarchs, the "philosopher-kings." Plato stressed this structure many times in statements, and in his published works, such as the ''Republic''. The wisdom of these rulers will supposedly eliminate poverty and deprivation through fairly distributed resources, though the details on how to do this are unclear. The educational program for the rulers is the central notion of the proposal. It has few laws, no lawyers and rarely sends its citizens to war but hires

mercenaries A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any o ...

from among its war-prone neighbors. These mercenaries were deliberately sent into dangerous situations in the hope that the more warlike populations of all surrounding countries will be weeded out, leaving peaceful peoples. During the 16th century, Thomas More's book ''

'' proposed an ideal society of the same name. Readers, including Utopian socialists, have chosen to accept this imaginary society as the realistic blueprint for a working nation, while others have postulated that Thomas More intended nothing of the sort. It is believed that More's ''Utopia'' functions only on the level of a satire, a work intended to reveal more about the

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

of his time than about an idealistic society. This interpretation is bolstered by the title of the book and nation and its apparent confusion between the Greek for "no place" and "good place": "utopia" is a compound of the syllable ou-, meaning "no" and topos, meaning place. But the

homophonic In music, homophony (;, Greek: ὁμόφωνος, ''homóphōnos'', from ὁμός, ''homós'', "same" and φωνή, ''phōnē'', "sound, tone") is a texture in which a primary part is supported by one or more additional strands that flesh ...

prefix eu-, meaning "good," also resonates in the word, with the implication that the perfectly "good place" is really "no place."

Mythical and religious utopias

In many cultures, societies, and religions, 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

myth Myth is a folklore genre consisting of Narrative, narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or Origin myth, origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not Objectivity (philosophy), ...

s tell us, there was an instinctive harmony between humanity and nature. People'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 Pious may refer to: * Farshad Pious (born 1962), Iranian retired footballer * Minerva Pious (1903–1979), American actress * Pious (novel), ''Pious'' (novel), a 2010 novel by Kenn Bivins See also

* List of people known as the Pious * Piety * ...

and felt themselves close to their God or gods. According to one anthropological theory, hunter-gatherers were the

original affluent society The "original affluent society" is the proposition that argues that the lives of hunter-gatherers can be seen as embedding a sufficient degree of material comfort and security to be considered affluent. The theory was first put forward in a paper p ...

. These mythical or religious archetypes are inscribed in many cultures and resurge with special vitality when people are in difficult and critical times. However, in utopias, 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 in the future, at some point in space, or beyond death, there must exist the possibility of living happily. In the United States and Europe, during the

Second Great Awakening The Second Great Awakening was a Protestant religious revival during the early 19th century in the United States. The Second Great Awakening, which spread religion through revivals and emotional preaching, sparked a number of reform movements. R ...

(ca. 1790–1840) and thereafter, many radical religious groups formed utopian societies in which

faith Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as "belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". Religious people often ...

could govern all aspects of members' lives. These utopian societies included the

Shakers The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, more commonly known as the Shakers, are a Millenarianism, millenarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian sect founded in England and then organized in the Unit ...

, who originated in England in the 18th century and arrived in America in 1774. A number of religious utopian societies from Europe came to the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries, including the Society of the Woman in the Wilderness (led by

Johannes Kelpius Johannes Kelpius (; 1667 – 1708) was a German Pietist, mystic, musician, and writer. He was also interested in the occult, botany, and astronomy. He came to believe with his followers – called the "Society of the Woman in the Wilderness" – ...

(1667–1708)), the

Ephrata Cloister The Ephrata Cloister or Ephrata Community was a Intentional community, religious community, established in 1732 by Conrad Beissel, Johann Conrad Beissel at Ephrata, Pennsylvania, Ephrata, in what is now Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Lancaster ...

(established in 1732) and the

Harmony Society The Harmony Society was a Christian theosophy and pietist society founded in Iptingen, Germany, in . Due to religious persecution by the Lutheran Church and the government in Württemberg, the group moved to the United States,Robert Paul Sutto ...

, among others. The Harmony Society was a

Christian theosophy Christian theosophy, also known as Boehmian theosophy and theosophy, refers to a range of positions within Christianity that focus on the attainment of direct, unmediated knowledge of the nature of divinity and the origin and purpose of the unive ...

and

pietist Pietism (), also known as Pietistic Lutheranism, is a movement within Lutheranism that combines its emphasis on biblical doctrine with an emphasis on individual piety and living a holy Christianity, Christian life, including a social concern for ...

group founded in

Iptingen Wiernsheim is a municipality in the Enz district of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. History Wiernsheim became a possession of Maulbronn Monastery in 1259 and was governed by the monastery's district office until 1806. When Maulbronn became a posse ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, in 1785. Due to religious persecution by the

Lutheran Church Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

and the government in

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Würt ...

,Robert Paul Sutton, ''Communal Utopias and the American Experience: Religious Communities'' (2003) p. 38 the society moved to the United States on October 7, 1803, settling in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. On February 15, 1805, about 400 followers formally organized the Harmony Society, placing all their goods in common. The group lasted until 1905, making it one of the longest-running financially successful communes in American history. The

Oneida Community The Oneida Community was a perfectionist religious communal society founded by John Humphrey Noyes and his followers in 1848 near Oneida, New York. The community believed that Jesus had already returned in AD 70, making it possible for them ...

, founded by

John Humphrey Noyes John Humphrey Noyes (September 3, 1811 – April 13, 1886) was an American preacher, radical religious philosopher, and Utopian socialism, utopian socialist. He founded the Putney Community, Putney, Oneida Community, Oneida and Wallingford C ...

Oneida, New York Oneida (, one, kanaˀalóhaleˀ) is a city in Madison County located west of Oneida Castle (in Oneida County) and east of Wampsville, New York, United States. The population was 11,390 at the 2010 census. The city, like both Oneida County an ...

, was a utopian religious

that lasted from 1848 to 1881. Although this utopian experiment has become better known today for its manufacture of Oneida silverware, it was one of the longest-running communes in American history. The

Amana Colonies The Amana Colonies are seven villages on located in Iowa County in east-central Iowa, United States: Amana (or Main Amana, German: ''Haupt-Amana''), East Amana, High Amana, Middle Amana, South Amana, West Amana, and Homestead. The villages ...

were communal settlements in

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

, started by radical German

pietists Pietism (), also known as Pietistic Lutheranism, is a movement within Lutheranism that combines its emphasis on biblical doctrine with an emphasis on individual piety and living a holy Christianity, Christian life, including a social concern for ...

, which lasted from 1855 to 1932. The

Amana Corporation The Amana Corporation is an American brand of household appliances. It was founded in 1934 by George Foerstner as The Electrical Equipment Co. in Middle Amana, Iowa, to manufacture commercial walk-in coolers. The business was later owned by the A ...

, manufacturer of refrigerators and household appliances, was originally started by the group. Other examples are Fountain Grove (founded in 1875), Riker's Holy City and other Californian utopian colonies between 1855 and 1955 (Hine), as well as

Sointula Sointula is an isolated village on Malcolm Island in British Columbia, Canada. Lying between Vancouver Island and the British Columbia mainland, northeast of Port McNeill and not far from Alert Bay, the island is part of the historic and present ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada. The

Amish The Amish (; pdc, Amisch; german: link=no, Amische), formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptist Christian church fellowships with Swiss German and Alsatian origins. They are closely related to Mennonite churches ...

and

Hutterites Hutterites (german: link=no, Hutterer), also called Hutterian Brethren (German: ), are a communal ethnoreligious group, ethnoreligious branch of Anabaptism, Anabaptists, who, like the Amish and Mennonites, trace their roots to the Radical Refor ...

can also be considered an attempt towards religious utopia. A wide variety of

intentional communities An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, ...

with some type of faith-based ideas have also started across the world. Anthropologist Richard Sosis examined 200 communes in the 19th-century United States, both religious and secular (mostly

utopian socialist Utopian socialism is the term often used to describe the first current of modern socialism and socialist thought as exemplified by the work of Henri de Saint-Simon, Charles Fourier, Étienne Cabet, and Robert Owen. Utopian socialism is often de ...

). 39 percent of the religious communes were still functioning 20 years after their founding while only 6 percent of the secular communes were. The number of costly sacrifices that a religious commune demanded from its members had a linear effect on its longevity, while in secular communes demands for costly sacrifices did not correlate with longevity and the majority of the secular communes failed within 8 years. Sosis cites anthropologist

Roy Rappaport Roy A. Rappaport (1926–1997) was an American anthropologist known for his contributions to the anthropological study of ritual and to ecological anthropology. Biography Rappaport received his Ph.D. at Columbia University and held a tenured posi ...

in arguing that

ritual A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized, b ...

s and laws are more effective when sacralized. Social psychologist

Jonathan Haidt Jonathan David Haidt (; born October 19, 1963) is an American social psychologist and author. He is the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University Stern School of Business. His main areas of study are the psychology of ...

cites Sosis's research in his 2012 book ''

The Righteous Mind ''The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion'' is a 2012 social psychology book by Jonathan Haidt, in which the author describes human morality as it relates to politics and religion. In the first section, Haidt dem ...

'' as the best evidence that

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

is an adaptive solution to the

free-rider problem In the social sciences, the free-rider problem is a type of market failure that occurs when those who benefit from resources, public goods (such as public roads or public library), or services of a communal nature do not pay for them or under-p ...

by enabling

cooperation Cooperation (written as co-operation in British English) is the process of groups of organisms working or acting together for common, mutual, or some underlying benefit, as opposed to working in competition for selfish benefit. Many animal a ...

without

kinship In anthropology, kinship is the web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of all humans in all societies, although its exact meanings even within this discipline are often debated. Anthropologist Robin Fox says that ...

Evolutionary medicine Evolutionary medicine or Darwinian medicine is the application of modern evolutionary theory to understanding health and disease. Modern biomedical research and practice have focused on the molecular and physiological mechanisms underlying heal ...

researcher

Randolph M. Nesse Randolph M. Nesse (born 1948) is an American physician, scientist and author who is notable for his role as a founder of the field of evolutionary medicine and evolutionary psychiatry. He is professor of life sciences and ASU Foundation Professo ...

and theoretical biologist

Mary Jane West-Eberhard Mary Jane West-Eberhard (born 1941) is an American theoretical biologist noted for arguing that phenotypic and developmental plasticity played a key role in shaping animal evolution and speciation. She is also an entomologist notable for her work ...

have argued instead that because humans with

altruistic Altruism is the principle and moral practice of concern for the welfare and/or happiness of other human beings or animals, resulting in a quality of life both material and spiritual. It is a traditional virtue in many cultures and a core asp ...

tendencies are preferred as social partners they receive fitness advantages by

social selection Social selection is a term used with varying meanings in biology. Joan Roughgarden proposed a hypothesis called ''social selection'' as an alternative to sexual selection. Social selection is argued to be a mode of natural selection based on re ...

, with Nesse arguing further that social selection enabled humans as a species to become extraordinarily

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

and capable of creating

culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tyl ...

. The

Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament (and consequently the final book of the Christian Bible). Its title is derived from the first word of the Koine Greek text: , meaning "unveiling" or "revelation". The Book of R ...

in the Christian

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

depicts an

eschatological Eschatology (; ) concerns expectations of the end of the present age, human history, or of the world itself. The end of the world or end times is predicted by several world religions (both Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic), which teach that negati ...

time with the defeat of

Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as Devil in Christianity, the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an non-physical entity, entity in the Abrahamic religions ...

, of

Evil Evil, in a general sense, is defined as the opposite or absence of good. It can be an extremely broad concept, although in everyday usage it is often more narrowly used to talk about profound wickedness and against common good. It is general ...

and of

Sin In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, s ...

. The main difference compared to the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

promises is that such a defeat also has an

ontological In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality. Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities exis ...

value (: "Then I saw 'a new heaven and a new earth,' for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea...'He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away") and no longer just gnosiological (

Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; he, , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "God is Salvation"), also known as Isaias, was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "the ...

: "See, I will create/new heavens and a new earth./The former things will not be remembered,/nor will they come to mind"). Narrow interpretation of the text depicts Heaven on Earth or a Heaven brought to Earth without

sin In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, s ...

. Daily and mundane details of this new Earth, where God and

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

rule, remain unclear, although it is implied to be similar to the biblical Garden of Eden. Some theological philosophers believe that heaven will not be a physical realm but instead an

incorporeal Incorporeality is "the state or quality of being incorporeal or bodiless; immateriality; incorporealism." Incorporeal (Greek: ἀσώματος) means "Not composed of matter; having no material existence." Incorporeality is a quality of souls, s ...

place for

souls In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

Golden Age

The

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

poet

Hesiod Hesiod (; grc-gre, Ἡσίοδος ''Hēsíodos'') was an ancient Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. He is generally regarded by western authors as 'the first written poet i ...

, around the 8th century BC, in his compilation of the mythological tradition (the poem ''

Works and Days ''Works and Days'' ( grc, Ἔργα καὶ Ἡμέραι, Érga kaì Hēmérai)The ''Works and Days'' is sometimes called by the Latin translation of the title, ''Opera et Dies''. Common abbreviations are ''WD'' and ''Op''. for ''Opera''. is a ...

''), explained that, prior to the present era, there were four other progressively less perfect ones, the oldest of which was the

Golden Age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during ...

Scheria

Perhaps the oldest Utopia of which we know, as pointed out many years ago by

Moses Finley Sir Moses Israel Finley, FBA (born Finkelstein; 20 May 1912 – 23 June 1986) was an American-born British academic and classical scholar. His prosecution by the United States Senate Subcommittee on Internal Security during the 1950s, resulted ...

, is

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

’s

Scheria Scheria or Scherie (; grc, Σχερία or ), also known as Phaeacia () or Faiakia was a region in Greek mythology, first mentioned in Homer's ''Odyssey'' as the home of the Phaeacians and the last destination of Odysseus in his 10-year journey b ...

, island of the

Phaeacians Scheria or Scherie (; grc, Σχερία or ), also known as Phaeacia () or Faiakia was a region in Greek mythology, first mentioned in Homer's ''Odyssey'' as the home of the Phaeacians and the last destination of Odysseus in his 10-year journey b ...

. A mythical place, often equated with classical

Corcyra Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The isl ...

, (modern

Corfu Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The isl ...

Kerkyra Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The isl ...

), where

Odysseus Odysseus ( ; grc-gre, Ὀδυσσεύς, Ὀδυσεύς, OdysseúsOdyseús, ), also known by the Latin variant Ulysses ( , ; lat, UlyssesUlixes), is a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the ''Odyssey''. Odysse ...

was washed ashore after 10 years of storm-tossed wandering and escorted to the King’s palace by his daughter

Nausicaa Nausicaa (; grc, Ναυσικάα, Nausikáa, or , ) also spelled Nausicaä or Nausikaa, is a character in Homer's ''Odyssey''. She is the daughter of King Alcinous and Queen Arete of Phaeacia. Her name means "burner of ships" ( 'ship'; 'to b ...

. With stout walls, a stone temple and good harbours, it is perhaps the ‘ideal’

Greek colony Greek colonization was an organised colonial expansion by the Archaic Greeks into the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea in the period of the 8th–6th centuries BC. This colonization differed from the migrations of the Greek Dark Ages in that i ...

, a model for those founded from the middle of the 8th C onward. A land of plenty, home to expert mariners (with the self-navigating ships), and skilled craftswomen who live in peace under their king's rule and fear no strangers.

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''P ...

, the Greek historian and biographer of the 1st century, dealt with the blissful and mythic past of humanity.

Arcadia

From

Sir Philip Sidney ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...

's prose romance '' The Old Arcadia'' (1580), originally a region in the

Peloponnesus The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridge which ...

Arcadia Arcadia may refer to: Places Australia * Arcadia, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney * Arcadia, Queensland * Arcadia, Victoria Greece * Arcadia (region), a region in the central Peloponnese * Arcadia (regional unit), a modern administrative un ...

became a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

for any rural area that serves as a

pastoral A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music (pastorale) that depicts ...

setting, a ''

locus amoenus ''Locus amoenus'' (Latin for "pleasant place") is a literary topos involving an idealized place of safety or comfort. A ''locus amoenus'' is usually a beautiful, shady lawn or open woodland, or a group of idyllic islands, sometimes with conno ...

'' ("delightful place").

The Biblical Garden of Eden

The

Biblical The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

Garden of Eden In Abrahamic religions, the Garden of Eden ( he, גַּן־עֵדֶן, ) or Garden of God (, and גַן־אֱלֹהִים ''gan-Elohim''), also called the Terrestrial Paradise, is the Bible, biblical paradise described in Book of Genesis, Genes ...

as depicted in the

Book of Genesis The Book of Genesis (from Greek ; Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, ( "In the beginning") ...

2 ( Authorized Version of 1611): According to the exegesis that the biblical theologian

Herbert Haag Herbert Haag (11 February 1915 – 23 August 2001) was a Swiss Roman Catholic theologian and biblical scholar of German origin. Haag was born in Singen am Hohentwiel. After studying theology in Paris for the diocese of Basel in 1940, he was o ...

proposes in the book ''Is original sin in Scripture?'', published soon after the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions) ...

, would indicate that

Adam and Eve Adam and Eve, according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, were the first man and woman. They are central to the belief that humanity is in essence a single family, with everyone descended from a single pair of original ancestors. ...

were created from the beginning naked of the

divine grace Divine grace is a theological term present in many religions. It has been defined as the divine influence which operates in humans to regenerate and sanctify, to inspire virtuous impulses, and to impart strength to endure trial and resist temptati ...

, an originary grace that, then, they would never have had and even less would have lost due to the subsequent events narrated. On the other hand, while supporting a continuity in the Bible about the absence of

preternatural The preternatural (or praeternatural) is that which appears outside or beside (Latin: '' præter'') the natural. It is "suspended between the mundane and the miraculous". In theology, the term is often used to distinguish marvels or deceptive t ...

gifts ( la, dona praeternaturalia) with regard to the ophitic event, Haag never makes any reference to the discontinuity of the loss of access to the tree of life.

The Land of Cockaigne

The Land of

Cockaigne Cockaigne or Cockayne () is a land of plenty in medieval myth, an imaginary place of extreme luxury and ease where physical comforts and pleasures are always immediately at hand and where the harshness of medieval peasant life does not exist. ...

(also Cockaygne, Cokaygne), was an imaginary land of idleness and luxury, famous in medieval stories and the subject of several poems, one of which, an early translation of a 13th-century French work, is given in George Ellis' ''Specimens of Early English Poets''. In this, "the houses were made of barley sugar and cakes, the streets were paved with pastry and the shops supplied goods for nothing." London has been so called (see

Cockney Cockney is an accent and dialect of English, mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by working-class and lower middle-class Londoners. The term "Cockney" has traditionally been used to describe a person from the East End, or b ...

) but Boileau applies the same to Paris.

Schlaraffenland Cockaigne or Cockayne () is a land of plenty in medieval myth, an imaginary place of extreme luxury and ease where physical comforts and pleasures are always immediately at hand and where the harshness of medieval peasant life does not exist. S ...

is an analogous German tradition. All these myths also express some hope that the

idyll An idyll (, ; from Greek , ''eidullion'', "short poem"; occasionally spelt ''idyl'' in American English) is a short poem, descriptive of rustic life, written in the style of Theocritus' short pastoral poems, the ''Idylls'' (Εἰδύλλια). U ...

ic state of affairs they describe is not irretrievably and irrevocably lost to mankind, that it can be regained in some way or other. One way might be a quest for an "earthly paradise" – a place like

Shangri-La Shangri-La is a fictional place in Asia's Kunlun Mountains (昆仑山), Uses the spelling 'Kuen-Lun'. described in the 1933 novel ''Lost Horizon'' by English author James Hilton. Hilton portrays Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, ge ...

, hidden in the

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

an mountains and described by James Hilton in his utopian novel ''

Lost Horizon ''Lost Horizon'' is a 1933 novel by English writer James Hilton. The book was turned into a film, also called ''Lost Horizon'', in 1937 by director Frank Capra. It is best remembered as the origin of Shangri-La, a fictional utopian lamaser ...

'' (1933).

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...

followed directly in this tradition in his belief that he had found the Garden of Eden when, towards the end of the 15th century, he first encountered the

and its indigenous inhabitants.

The Peach Blossom Spring

The ''

Peach Blossom Spring ''The Peach Blossom Spring'' (, also translated as “(The Record of) the Peach Blossom”), or ''Peach Blossom Spring Story'' or ''The Peach Blossom Land'' was a fable written by Tao Yuanming in 421 CE about a chance discovery of an ethereal utop ...

'' (桃花源), a prose piece written by the Chinese poet

Tao Yuanming Tao Yuanming (; 365–427), also known as Tao Qian (; also T'ao Ch'ien in Wade-Giles), was a Chinese poet and politician who was one of the best-known poets during the Six Dynasties, Six Dynasties period. He was born during the Eastern Jin dyn ...

, describes a utopian place. The narrative goes that a fisherman from Wuling sailed upstream a river and came across a beautiful blossoming peach grove and lush green fields covered with blossom petals. Entranced by the beauty, he continued upstream and stumbled onto a small grotto when he reached the end of the river. Though narrow at first, he was able to squeeze through the passage and discovered an ethereal utopia, where the people led an ideal existence in harmony with nature. He saw a vast expanse of fertile lands, clear ponds, mulberry trees, bamboo groves and the like with a community of people of all ages and houses in neat rows. The people explained that their ancestors escaped to this place during the civil unrest of the

Qin dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first Dynasties in Chinese history, dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin (state), ...

and they themselves had not left since or had contact with anyone from the outside. They had not even heard of the later dynasties of bygone times or the then-current Jin dynasty. In the story, the community was secluded and unaffected by the troubles of the outside world. The sense of timelessness was predominant in the story as a perfect utopian community remains unchanged, that is, it had no decline nor the need to improve. Eventually, the Chinese term ''Peach Blossom Spring'' came to be synonymous for the concept of utopia.

Datong

Datong Datong is a prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi Province in the People's Republic of China. It is located in the Datong Basin at an elevation of and borders Inner Mongolia to the north and west and Hebei to the east. As of the 2020 cens ...

is a traditional Chinese Utopia. The main description of it is found in the Chinese

Classic of Rites The ''Book of Rites'', also known as the ''Liji'', is a collection of texts describing the social forms, administration, and ceremonial rites of the Zhou dynasty as they were understood in the Warring States and the early Han periods. The ''Book o ...

, in the chapter called "Li Yun" (禮運). Later, Datong and its ideal of 'The World Belongs to Everyone/The World is Held in Common' 'Tianxia weigong/天下爲公' 'influenced modern Chinese reformers and revolutionaries, such as

Kang Youwei Kang Youwei (; Cantonese: ''Hōng Yáuh-wàih''; 19March 185831March 1927) was a prominent political thinker and reformer in China of the late Qing dynasty. His increasing closeness to and influence over the young Guangxu Emperor spar ...

Ketumati

It is said, once

Maitreya Maitreya (Sanskrit: ) or Metteyya (Pali: ), also Maitreya Buddha or Metteyya Buddha, is regarded as the future Buddha of this world in Buddhist eschatology. As the 5th and final Buddha of the current kalpa, Maitreya's teachings will be aimed at ...

reborn Reborn may refer to: Film *''Reborn'', a 2015 video produced by the Augustine Institute * ''Re:Born'' (film), a 2016 Japanese action film * ''Reborn'' (film), a 2018 American horror film Music * Reborn (band), a Moroccan death metal band Albums ...

into the future kingdom of

Ketumati Ketumati (Ch'ih-t'ou) is a legendary place in some Buddhism, Buddhist traditions viewed as the earthly paradise of the prophesied figure called Maitreya, who is the future Buddha (title), Buddha. Devotees of Maitreya believe that the kingdom is a ...

, a utopian age will commence. The city is described in

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

as a domain filled with palaces made of gems and surrounded by

Kalpavriksha Kalpavriksha () is a wish-fulfilling divine tree in Indian religions, like Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism. Its earliest descriptions are mentioned in Sanskrit literature. It is also a popular theme in Jain cosmology and Buddhism. ...

trees producing goods. During its years, none of the inhabitants of Jambudvipa will need to take part in cultivation and hunger will no longer exist.

Modern utopias

In the 21st century, discussions around utopia for some authors include post-scarcity economics,

late capitalism Late capitalism, late-stage capitalism, or end-stage capitalism is a term first used in print by German economist Werner Sombart around the turn of the 20th century. In the late 2010s, the term began to be used in the United States and Canada to ...

, and

; for example, the "human capitalism" utopia envisioned in ''

Utopia for Realists ''Utopia for Realists: The Case for a Universal Basic Income, Open Borders, and a 15-hour Workweek'' (alternatively subtitled ''And How We Can Get There'' and ''How We Can Build the Ideal World'') is a book by Dutch popular historian Rutger Bregm ...

'' (2016) includes a universal basic income and a 15-hour

workweek The weekdays and weekend are the complementary parts of the week devoted to labour and rest, respectively. The legal weekdays (British English), or workweek (American English), is the part of the seven-day week devoted to working. In most of th ...

, along with

open border An open border is a border that enables free movement of people (and often of goods) between jurisdictions with no restrictions on movement and is lacking substantive border control. A border may be an open border due to intentional legislation ...

s. Scandinavian nations, which as of 2019 ranked at the top of the

World Happiness Report The World Happiness Report is a publication that contains articles and rankings of Gross National Happiness, national happiness, based on respondent ratings of their own lives, which the report also correlates with various Quality of life, (qualit ...

, are sometimes cited as modern utopias, although British author

Michael Booth Michael Booth is an English food and travel writer and journalist who writes regularly for a variety of newspapers and magazines including the ''Independent on Sunday'', ''Condé Nast Traveller'', ''Monocle'' and '' Time Out'', among many o ...

has called that a myth and wrote a 2014 book about the Nordic countries.

Economics

Particularly in the early 19th century, several utopian ideas arose, often in response to the belief that social disruption was created and caused by the development of

commercialism Commercialism is the application of both manufacturing and consumption towards personal usage, or the practices, methods, aims, and distribution of products in a free market geared toward generating a profit. Commercialism can also refer, positivel ...

and

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for Profit (economics), profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, pric ...

. These ideas are often grouped in a greater "utopian socialist" movement, due to their shared characteristics. A once common characteristic is an

egalitarian Egalitarianism (), or equalitarianism, is a school of thought within political philosophy that builds from the concept of social equality, prioritizing it for all people. Egalitarian doctrines are generally characterized by the idea that all hum ...

distribution of goods, frequently with the total abolition of

money Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are as ...

. Citizens only do

work Work may refer to: * Work (human activity), intentional activity people perform to support themselves, others, or the community ** Manual labour, physical work done by humans ** House work, housework, or homemaking ** Working animal, an animal tr ...

which they enjoy and which is for the

common good In philosophy, economics, and political science, the common good (also commonwealth, general welfare, or public benefit) is either what is shared and beneficial for all or most members of a given community, or alternatively, what is achieved by c ...

, leaving them with ample time for the cultivation of the arts and sciences. One classic example of such a utopia appears in

Edward Bellamy Edward Bellamy (March 26, 1850 – May 22, 1898) was an American author, journalist, and political activist most famous for his utopian novel ''Looking Backward''. Bellamy's vision of a harmonious future world inspired the formation of numerou ...

's 1888 novel ''

Looking Backward ''Looking Backward: 2000–1887'' is a utopian science fiction novel by Edward Bellamy, a journalist and writer from Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts; it was first published in 1888. The book was translated into several languages, and in short or ...

''.

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...

depicts another socialist utopia in his 1890 novel ''

News from Nowhere ''News from Nowhere'' (1890) is a classic work combining utopian socialism and soft science fiction written by the artist, designer and socialist pioneer William Morris. It was first published in serial form in the ''Commonweal'' journal beginn ...

'', written partially in response to the top-down (

bureaucratic The term bureaucracy () refers to a body of non-elected governing officials as well as to an administrative policy-making group. Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments staffed with non-elected offi ...

) nature of Bellamy's utopia, which Morris criticized. However, as the socialist movement developed, it moved away from utopianism;

in particular became a harsh critic of earlier socialism which he described as "utopian". (For more information, see the

History of Socialism The history of socialism has its origins in the 1789 French Revolution and the changes which it brought, although it has precedents in earlier movements and ideas. ''The Communist Manifesto'' was written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in 1847-4 ...

article.) In a materialist utopian society, the economy is perfect; there is no inflation and only perfect social and financial equality exists.

Edward Gibbon Wakefield Edward Gibbon Wakefield (20 March 179616 May 1862) is considered a key figure in the establishment of the colonies of South Australia and New Zealand (where he later served as a member of parliament). He also had significant interests in Britis ...

's utopian theorizing on systematic

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

settlement Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), the distortion or disruption of parts of a building *Closing (real estate), the final step in executing a real estate transaction *Settlement (fina ...

policy in the early-19th century also centred on economic considerations, but with a view to preserving class distinctions; Wakefield influenced several colonies founded in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in the 1830s, 1840s and 1850s. In 1905, H.G. Wells published ''

A Modern Utopia ''A Modern Utopia'' is a 1905 novel by H. G. Wells. Because of the complexity and sophistication of its narrative structure, ''A Modern Utopia'' has been called "not so much a modern as a postmodern utopia."Michael Sherborne, ''H.G. Wells: Anot ...

'', which was widely read and admired and provoked much discussion. Also consider

Eric Frank Russell Eric Frank Russell (January 6, 1905 – February 28, 1978) was a British writer best known for his science fiction novels and short stories. Much of his work was first published in the United States, in John W. Campbell's '' Astounding Science ...

's book ''

The Great Explosion ''The Great Explosion'' is a satirical science fiction novel by English writer Eric Frank Russell, first published in 1962. The story is divided into three sections. The final section is based on Russell's 1951 short story "...And Then There Wer ...

'' (1963), the last section of which details an economic and social utopia. This forms the first mention of the idea of

Local Exchange Trading Systems A local exchange trading system (also local employment and trading system or local energy transfer system; abbreviated LETS) is a locally initiated, democratically organised, not-for-profit community enterprise that provides a community infor ...

(LETS). During the "

Khrushchev Thaw The Khrushchev Thaw ( rus, хрущёвская о́ттепель, r=khrushchovskaya ottepel, p=xrʊˈɕːɵfskəjə ˈotʲ:ɪpʲɪlʲ or simply ''ottepel'')William Taubman, Khrushchev: The Man and His Era, London: Free Press, 2004 is the period ...

" period, the Soviet writer Ivan Efremov produced the science-fiction utopia ''Andromeda'' (1957) in which a major cultural thaw took place: humanity communicates with a galaxy-wide Great Circle and develops its technology and culture within a social framework characterized by vigorous competition between alternative philosophies. The English political philosopher James Harrington (1611-1677), author of the utopian work ''

The Commonwealth of Oceana ''The Commonwealth of Oceana'' , published 1656, is a work of political philosophy by the English politician and essayist James Harrington (1611–1677). The unsuccessful first attempt to publish ''Oceana'' was officially censored by Lord Prote ...

'', published in 1656, inspired English country-party republicanism (1680s to 1740s) and became influential in the design of three American colonies. His theories ultimately contributed to the idealistic principles of the American Founders. The colonies of Carolina (founded in 1670),

(founded in 1681), and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

(founded in 1733) were the only three English colonies in America that were planned as utopian societies with an integrated physical, economic and social design. At the heart of the plan for Georgia was a concept of "agrarian equality" in which land was allocated equally and additional land acquisition through purchase or inheritance was prohibited; the plan was an early step toward the

yeoman Yeoman is a noun originally referring either to one who owns and cultivates land or to the middle ranks of servants in an English royal or noble household. The term was first documented in mid-14th-century England. The 14th century also witn ...

republic later envisioned by

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...

. The

s of the 1960s in the United States often represented an attempt to greatly improve the way humans live together in communities. The

back-to-the-land A back-to-the-land movement is any of various agrarian movements across different historical periods. The common thread is a call for people to take up smallholding and to grow food from the land with an emphasis on a greater degree of self-suffic ...

movements and

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

s inspired many to try to live in peace and harmony on farms or in remote areas and to set up new types of governance. Communes like Kaliflower, which existed between 1967 and 1973, attempted to live outside of society's norms and to create their own ideal communalist society. People all over the world organized and built

with the hope of developing a better way of living together. While many of these new small communities failed, some continue to grow, such as the religion-based

Twelve Tribes The Twelve Tribes of Israel ( he, שִׁבְטֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל, translit=Šīḇṭēy Yīsrāʾēl, lit=Tribes of Israel) are, according to Hebrew scriptures, the descendants of the biblical patriarch Jacob, also known as Israel, throu ...

, which started in the United States in 1972. Since its inception, it has grown into many groups around the world.

Science and technology

Though

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...

's ''New Atlantis'' is imbued with a scientific spirit, scientific and technological utopias tend to be based in the future, when it is believed that advanced

science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

and

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...

will allow utopian

living standards Standard of living is the level of income, comforts and services available, generally applied to a society or location, rather than to an individual. Standard of living is relevant because it is considered to contribute to an individual's quality ...

; for example, the absence of

death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

and

suffering Suffering, or pain in a broad sense, may be an experience of unpleasantness or aversion, possibly associated with the perception of harm or threat of harm in an individual. Suffering is the basic element that makes up the negative valence of a ...

; changes in

human nature Human nature is a concept that denotes the fundamental dispositions and characteristics—including ways of thinking, feeling, and acting—that humans are said to have naturally. The term is often used to denote the essence of humankind, or ...

and the

human condition The human condition is all of the characteristics and key events of human life, including birth, learning, emotion, aspiration, morality, conflict, and death. This is a very broad topic that has been and continues to be pondered and analyzed fr ...

. Technology has affected the way humans have lived to such an extent that normal functions, like sleep, eating or even reproduction, have been replaced by artificial means. Other examples include a society where humans have struck a balance with technology and it is merely used to enhance the human living condition (e.g. ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

''). In place of the static perfection of a utopia,

libertarian transhumanist Transhumanist politics constitutes a group of political ideologies that generally express the belief in improving human individuals through science and technology. History The term "transhumanism" with its present meaning was popularised by J ...

s envision an " extropia", an open, evolving society allowing individuals and voluntary groupings to form the institutions and social forms they prefer.

Mariah Utsawa Mariah may refer to: *Mariah (given name), including a list of people with the name *Mariah (microprocessor), a VAX microprocessor designed by Digital Equipment Corporation *Another name for the fish commonly known as burbot See also *Maria (disam ...

presented a theoretical basis for

technological utopianism Technological utopianism (often called techno-utopianism or technoutopianism) is any ideology based on the premise that advances in science and technology could and should bring about a utopia, or at least help to fulfill one or another utopian i ...

and set out to develop a variety of technologies ranging from maps to designs for cars and houses which might lead to the development of such a utopia. One notable example of a technological and

libertarian socialist Libertarian socialism, also known by various other names, is a left-wing,Diemer, Ulli (1997)"What Is Libertarian Socialism?" The Anarchist Library. Retrieved 4 August 2019. anti-authoritarian, anti-statist and libertarianLong, Roderick T. (201 ...

utopia is Scottish author

Iain Banks Iain Banks (16 February 1954 – 9 June 2013) was a Scottish author, writing mainstream fiction as Iain Banks and science fiction as Iain M. Banks, adding the initial of his adopted middle name Menzies (). After the success of ''The Wasp Factor ...

Culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tyl ...

. Opposing this

optimism Optimism is an attitude reflecting a belief or hope that the outcome of some specific endeavor, or outcomes in general, will be positive, favorable, and desirable. A common idiom used to illustrate optimism versus pessimism is a glass filled wi ...

is the prediction that advanced science and technology will, through deliberate misuse or accident, cause environmental damage or even humanity's

extinction Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

. Critics, such as

Jacques Ellul Jacques Ellul (; ; January 6, 1912 – May 19, 1994) was a French philosopher, sociologist, lay theologian, and professor who was a noted Christian anarchist. Ellul was a longtime Professor of History and the Sociology of Institutions on t ...

and

Timothy Mitchell Timothy P. Mitchell is a British-born political theorist and student of the Arab world. He is a professor of Middle Eastern Studies at Columbia University. He was previously Professor of Politics at New York University.New Columbia Hire Backed Ac ...

advocate precautions against the premature embrace of new technologies. Both raise questions about changing responsibility and freedom brought by

division of labour The division of labour is the separation of the tasks in any economic system or organisation so that participants may specialise (specialisation). Individuals, organizations, and nations are endowed with, or acquire specialised capabilities, and ...

. Authors such as

John Zerzan John Edward Zerzan ( ; born August 10, 1943) is an American anarchist and primitivist ecophilosopher and author. His works criticize agricultural civilization as inherently oppressive, and advocates drawing upon the ways of life of hunter-gathe ...

and

Derrick Jensen Derrick Jensen (born December 19, 1960) is an American ecophilosopher, writer, author, teacher and environmentalist in the anarcho-primitivist tradition, though he rejects the label "anarchist". ''Utne Reader'' named Jensen among "50 Visionari ...

consider that modern technology is progressively depriving humans of their autonomy and advocate the collapse of the industrial civilization, in favor of small-scale organization, as a necessary path to avoid the threat of technology on human freedom and

sustainability Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...

. There are many examples of techno-dystopias portrayed in mainstream culture, such as the classics ''

Brave New World ''Brave New World'' is a dystopian novel by English author Aldous Huxley, written in 1931 and published in 1932. Largely set in a futuristic World State, whose citizens are environmentally engineered into an intelligence-based social hierarch ...

'' and ''

,'' often published as "1984", which have explored some of these topics.

Ecological

Ecological utopian society describes new ways in which society should relate to nature. Ecotopia: The Notebooks and Reports of William Weston from 1975 by Ernest Callenbach was one of the first influential ecological utopian novels.Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
Richard Grove's book Green Imperialism: Colonial Expansion, Tropical Island Edens and the Origins of Environmentalism 1600–1860 from 1995 suggested the roots of ecological utopian thinking. Grove's book sees early environmentalism as a result of the impact of utopian tropical islands on European data-driven scientists. The works on ecological eutopia perceive a widening gap between the modern Western way of living that destroys nature and a more traditional way of living before industrialization. Ecological utopias may advocate a society that is more sustainable. According to the Dutch philosopher

Marius de Geus Marius may refer to: People *Gaius Marius (157 BC-86 BC), Roman statesman, seven times consul. Arts and entertainment * ''Marius'' (play), a 1929 play by Marcel Pagnol * "Marius" (short story), a 1957 story by Poul Anderson * ''Marius'' (193 ...

, ecological utopias could be inspirational sources for movements involving

green politics Green politics, or ecopolitics, is a political ideology that aims to foster an ecologically sustainable society often, but not always, rooted in environmentalism, nonviolence, social justice and grassroots democracy. Wall 2010. p. 12-13. It b ...

Feminism

Utopias have been used to explore the ramifications of genders being either a societal construct or a biologically "hard-wired" imperative or some mix of the two. Socialist and economic utopias have tended to take the "woman question" seriously and often to offer some form of equality between the sexes as part and parcel of their vision, whether this be by addressing misogyny, reorganizing society along separatist lines, creating a certain kind of androgynous equality that ignores gender or in some other manner. For example,

's ''

'' (1887) responded, progressively for his day, to the contemporary women's suffrage and women's rights movements. Bellamy supported these movements by incorporating the equality of women and men into his utopian world's structure, albeit by consigning women to a separate sphere of light industrial activity (due to women's lesser physical strength) and making various exceptions for them in order to make room for (and to praise) motherhood. One of the earlier feminist utopias that imagines complete separatism is

Charlotte Perkins Gilman Charlotte Perkins Gilman (; née Perkins; July 3, 1860 – August 17, 1935), also known by her first married name Charlotte Perkins Stetson, was an American humanist, novelist, writer, lecturer, advocate for social reform, and eugenicist. She wa ...

's '' Herland'' (1915). In science fiction and technological speculation, gender can be challenged on the biological as well as the social level.

Marge Piercy Marge Piercy (born March 31, 1936) is an American progressive activist and writer. Her work includes ''Woman on the Edge of Time''; ''He, She and It'', which won the 1993 Arthur C. Clarke Award; and ''Gone to Soldiers'', a New York Times Best ...

's ''

Woman on the Edge of Time ''Woman on the Edge of Time'' is a 1976 novel by Marge Piercy. It is considered a classic of utopian "speculative" science fiction as well as a feminist classic. The novel was originally published by Alfred A. Knopf. Piercy draws on several inspir ...

'' portrays equality between the genders and complete equality in sexuality (regardless of the gender of the lovers). Birth-giving, often felt as the divider that cannot be avoided in discussions of women's rights and roles, has been shifted onto elaborate biological machinery that functions to offer an enriched embryonic experience. When a child is born, it spends most of its time in the children's ward with peers. Three "mothers" per child are the norm and they are chosen in a gender neutral way (men as well as women may become "mothers") on the basis of their experience and ability. Technological advances also make possible the freeing of women from childbearing in

Shulamith Firestone Shulamith Bath Shmuel Ben Ari Firestone (born Feuerstein; January 7, 1945 – August 28, 2012) was a Canadian-American radical feminist writer and activist. Firestone was a central figure in the early development of radical feminism and second-w ...

's ''

The Dialectic of Sex ''The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution'' is a 1970 book by the radical feminist activist Shulamith Firestone. Written over a few months when Firestone was 25, it has been described as a classic of feminist thought. Firestone a ...

''. The fictional aliens in

Mary Gentle Mary Rosalyn Gentle (born 29 March 1956) is a UK science fiction and fantasy author. Literary career Mary Gentle's first published novel was ''Hawk in Silver'' (1977), a young-adult fantasy. She came to prominence with the '' Orthe'' duology, w ...

's ''

Golden Witchbreed ''Golden Witchbreed'' is a novel by Mary Gentle published in 1983. Plot summary ''Golden Witchbreed'' is a novel in which Christie is on the planet Orthe as an envoy of Earth. Reception Dave Langford reviewed ''Golden Witchbreed'' for ''White Dw ...

'' start out as gender-neutral children and do not develop into men and women until puberty and gender has no bearing on social roles. In contrast,

Doris Lessing Doris May Lessing (; 22 October 1919 – 17 November 2013) was a British-Zimbabwean novelist. She was born to British parents in Iran, where she lived until 1925. Her family then moved to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), where she remain ...

's ''

The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five ''The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five'' is a 1980 science fiction novel by Doris Lessing. It is the second book in her five-book ''Canopus in Argos'' series, the first being ''Shikasta'' (1979). It was first published in the United ...

'' (1980) suggests that men's and women's values are inherent to the sexes and cannot be changed, making a compromise between them essential. In ''My Own Utopia'' (1961) by Elizabeth Mann Borghese, gender exists but is dependent upon age rather than sex – genderless children mature into women, some of whom eventually become men. " William Marston's

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byr ...

comics of the 1940s featured Paradise Island, also known as Themyscira, a matriarchal all-female community of peace, loving submission, bondage and giant space kangaroos."Noah Berlatsky, "Imagine There's No Gender: The Long History of Feminist Utopian Literature," ''The Atlantic,'' April 15, 2013. https://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/04/imagine-theres-no-gender-the-long-history-of-feminist-utopian-literature/274993/ Utopian

single-gender worlds A relatively common motif in speculative fiction is the existence of single-gender worlds or single-sex societies. These fictional societies have long been one of the primary ways to explore implications of gender and gender-differences in scien ...

or single-sex societies have long been one of the primary ways to explore implications of gender and gender-differences. In speculative fiction, female-only worlds have been imagined to come about by the action of disease that wipes out men, along with the development of technological or mystical method that allow female

parthenogenic Parthenogenesis (; from the Greek grc, παρθένος, translit=parthénos, lit=virgin, label=none + grc, γένεσις, translit=génesis, lit=creation, label=none) is a natural form of asexual reproduction in which growth and development ...

reproduction Reproduction (or procreation or breeding) is the biological process by which new individual organisms – "offspring" – are produced from their "parent" or parents. Reproduction is a fundamental feature of all known life; each individual or ...

. Charlotte Perkins Gilman's 1915 novel approaches this type of separate society. Many feminist utopias pondering separatism were written in the 1970s, as a response to the Lesbian separatist movement;Attebery, p. 13.

Gaétan Brulotte Gaëtan Brulotte (born 1945) is a prominent Canadian writer from Quebec and a professor of French and Francophone Studies at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Gaëtan Brulotte studied at Laval University (Quebec City), and earned his Ph.D ...

& John Phillips,''Encyclopedia of Erotic Literature'', "Science Fiction and Fantasy", CRC Press, 2006, p. 1189, examples include

Joanna Russ Joanna Russ (February 22, 1937 – April 29, 2011) was an American writer, academic and feminist. She is the author of a number of works of science fiction, fantasy and feminist literary criticism such as ''How to Suppress Women's Writing'', as w ...

's ''

The Female Man ''The Female Man'' is a feminist science fiction novel by American writer Joanna Russ. It was originally written in 1970 and first published in 1975 by Bantam Books. Russ was an ardent feminist and challenged sexist views during the 1970s with her ...

'' and

Suzy McKee Charnas Suzy McKee Charnas (October 22, 1939 – January 2, 2023) was an American novelist and short story writer, writing primarily in the genres of science fiction and fantasy. She won several awards for her fiction, including the Hugo Award, the N ...

's ''

Walk to the End of the World ''The Holdfast Chronicles'' is a series of books by American feminist science fiction author Suzy McKee Charnas. The series consists of four books: * ''Walk to the End of the World'' (1974) * ''Motherlines'' (1978) * ''The Furies'' (1994) * ''T ...

'' and ''

Motherlines ''The Holdfast Chronicles'' is a series of books by American feminist science fiction author Suzy McKee Charnas. The series consists of four books: * ''Walk to the End of the World'' (1974) * ''Motherlines'' (1978) * ''The Furies'' (1994) * ''T ...

''.Martha A. Bartter, ''The Utopian Fantastic'', "Momutes", Robin Anne Reid, p. 101 Utopias imagined by male authors have often included equality between sexes, rather than separation, although as noted Bellamy's strategy includes a certain amount of "separate but equal".Martha A. Bartter, ''The Utopian Fantastic'', "Momutes", Robin Anne Reid, p. 102 The use of female-only worlds allows the exploration of female independence and freedom from

patriarchy Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of dominance and privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical anthropological term for families or clans controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males a ...

. The societies may be lesbian, such as ''

Daughters of a Coral Dawn A daughter is a female offspring; a girl or a woman in relation to her parents. Daughterhood is the state of being someone's daughter. The male counterpart is a son. Analogously the name is used in several areas to show relations between groups ...

'' by

Katherine V. Forrest Katherine V. Forrest (born 1939) is a Canadian-born American writer, best known for her novels about lesbian police detective Kate Delafield. Her books have won and been finalists for Lambda Literary Award twelve times, as well as other awards. ...

or not, and may not be sexual at all – a famous early sexless example being '' Herland'' (1915) by

. Charlene Ball writes in ''Women's Studies Encyclopedia'' that use of speculative fiction to explore gender roles in future societies has been more common in the United States compared to Europe and elsewhere, although such efforts as

Gerd Brantenberg Gerd Mjøen Brantenberg (born October 27, 1941) is a Norwegian author, teacher, and feminist writer. Biography Brantenberg was born in Oslo, but grew up in Fredrikstad. She studied English, History, and Sociology in London, Edinburgh, and Oslo. ...

's ''Egalia's Daughters'' and

Christa Wolf Christa Wolf (; née Ihlenfeld; 18 March 1929 – 1 December 2011) was a German novelist and essayist.
Barbara Gard ...

's portrayal of the land of Colchis in her ''Medea: Voices ''are certainly as influential and famous as any of the American feminist utopias.

Notes

; Bundled references

References

* ''Utopia: The History of an Idea'' (2020), by Gregory Claeys. London: Thames & Hudson. *''Two Kinds of Utopia'', (1912) by

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...

. *''Development of Socialism from Utopia to Science'' (1870?) by

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
'' Karl Mannheim Karl Mannheim (born Károly Manheim, 27 March 1893 – 9 January 1947) was an influential Hungarian sociologist during the first half of the 20th century. He is a key figure in classical sociology, as well as one of the founders of the sociolo ...

, translated by Louis Wirth and Edward Shils. New York, Harcourt, Brace. See original, ''Ideologie Und Utopie'', Bonn: Cohen. * ''

History and Utopia ''History and Utopia'' (french: Histoire et utopie) is a 1960 philosophical book by the Romanian philosopher Emil Cioran (1911-1995), which analyzes the ascendancy of the Soviet Union, the psychology of tyranny, and the historical concept of Utopi ...

'' (1960), by

Emil Cioran Emil Mihai Cioran (, ; 8 April 1911 – 20 June 1995) was a Romanian philosopher, aphorist and essayist, who published works in both Romanian and French. His work has been noted for its pervasive philosophical pessimism, style, and aphorisms. H ...

. *''Utopian Thought in the Western World'' (1979), by

Frank E. Manuel Frank Edward Manuel (12 September 1910 – 2003) was an American historian, Kenan Professor of History, emeritus, at New York University and Alfred and Viola Hart University Professor, emeritus, at Brandeis University. He was known for his work on ...

& Fritzie Manuel. Oxford: Blackwell. *''California's Utopian Colonies'' (1983), by Robert V. Hine. University of California Press. *''

The Principle of Hope ''The Principle of Hope'' (german: Das Prinzip Hoffnung) is a book by the Marxist philosopher Ernst Bloch, published in three volumes in 1954, 1955, and 1959, in which the author explores utopianism, studying the utopian impulses present in art, l ...

'' (1986), by

. See original, 1937–41, ''Das Prinzip Hoffnung'' *''Demand the Impossible: Science Fiction and the Utopian Imagination'' (1986) by

Tom Moylan Thomas Patrick Moylan (born 26 December 1943) is an American-Irish academic, literary and cultural critic, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Language, Literature, Communication and Culture at the University of Limerick. Moylan's academic inter ...

. London: Methuen, 1986. *''Utopia and Anti-utopia in Modern Times'' (1987), by Krishnan Kumar. Oxford: Blackwell. *''The Concept of Utopia'' (1990), by

Ruth Levitas Ruth Levitas (born 15 May 1949 in London) is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Bristol. She is well known internationally for her research on utopia and utopian studies. Her book, ''The Concept of Utopia'' (199 ...

. London: Allan. *''Utopianism'' (1991), by Krishnan Kumar. Milton Keynes: Open University Press. *''La storia delle utopie'' (1996), by Massimo Baldini. Roma: Armando. *''The Utopia Reader'' (1999), edited by

Gregory Claeys Gregory Claeys (born 18 August 1953) is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of London. Career He gained his PhD at the University of Cambridge, where he studied at Jesus College, and was a Junior Research Associate (1981–83) at Ki ...

and

. New York: New York University Press. *''Spirit of Utopia'' (2000), by

. See original, ''Geist Der Utopie'', 1923. *''El País de Karu o de los tiempos en que todo se reemplazaba por otra cosa'' (2001), by Daniel Cerqueiro. Buenos Aires: Ed. Peq. Ven. *''Archaeologies of the Future: The Desire Called Utopia and Other Science Fictions'' (2005) by

Fredric Jameson Fredric Jameson (born April 14, 1934) is an American literary critic, philosopher and Marxist political theorist. He is best known for his analysis of contemporary cultural trends, particularly his analysis of postmodernity and capitalism. James ...

. London: Verso. *''Utopianism: A Very Short Introduction'' (2010), by

. Oxford: Oxford University Press. *''Defined by a Hollow: Essays on Utopia, Science Fiction and Political Epistemology'' (2010) by

Darko Suvin Darko Ronald Suvin (born Darko Šlesinger) is a Yugoslavia, Yugoslav-born academic, writer and critic who became a professor (now emeritusDavid JohnstonConvocation: Honorary degrees and emeritus professorships McGill Reporter, Volume 33, No. 05, ...

. Frankfurt am Main, Oxford and Bern: Peter Lang. *
Existential Utopia: New Perspectives on Utopian Thought
' (2011), edited by Patricia Vieira and

Michael Marder Michael Marder is Ikerbasque Research Professor of Philosophy at the University of the Basque Country, Vitoria-Gasteiz. He works in the phenomenological tradition of Continental philosophy, environmental thought, and political philosophy. Educati ...

. London & New York: Continuum. *"Galt's Gulch: Ayn Rand's Utopian Delusion" (2012), by Alan Clardy. ''Utopian Studies'' 23, 238–262. *''The Nationality of Utopia: H. G. Wells, England, and the World State'' (2020), by Maxim Shadurski. New York and London: Routledge. *
Utopia as a World Model: The Boundaries and Borderlands of a Literary Phenomenon
' (2016), by Maxim Shadurski. Siedlce: IKR L. . *''An Ecotopian Lexicon'' (2019), edited by Matthew Schneider-Mayerson and Brent Ryan Bellamy. University of Minnesota Press. .

External links

*
Utopia – The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2001

Intentional Communities Directory

History of 15 Finnish
utopian settlements in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Australia and Europe.
Towards Another Utopia of The City
Institute of Urban Design, Bremen, Germany
Ecotopia 2121: A Vision of Our Future Green Utopia – in 100 Cities.

– a learning resource from the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

Utopia of the GOOD
An essay on Utopias and their nature.
Review of Ehud Ben ZVI, Ed. (2006). Utopia and Dystopia in Prophetic Literature. Helsinki: The Finnish Exegetical Society.
A collection of articles on the issue of utopia and dystopia.
The story of Utopias
Mumford, Lewis

North America

Europe
''Utopian Studies''
academic journal * {{Authority control 16th-century neologisms Words originating in fiction