Utopia is an ideal place, a paradise where people live in harmony with nature. It is often seen as a model society, with an abundance of everything people need to survive and live a long and happy life. The term was coined by the author and philosopher Thomas More from the Greek ou topos, meaning no place or, essentially, nowhere.
Just as there is purgatory for souls to be purified or hell where people pay for their sins after death, according to the world’s oldest mythologies.
Utopia in literature
Although the term was coined by More in his book Utopia, published in 1516, the concept has existed in literature since the 4th century BC, in the works of a Greek mythographer, Euhemerus. With the Age of Exploration sending explorers and writers to mysterious foreign lands, the settings for utopian themes became more realistic.
In his novel, More criticizes the European way of life through the depiction of an ideal society. The setting for More’s utopia was on an island, where there are no laws, everyone learns a skill that benefits the community, people work only six hours a day, there is no crime, and there is tolerance toward religion in all its forms.
More’s work influenced many writers to follow in the utopian as well as the dystopian genres. In 1552, author Antonio Francesco Doni published I Mondi, while Francesco Patrizi published La Città felice in 1553. Both works reflected More’s view of the model society. Francis Bacon published his book New Atlantis in 1627, addressing the concept of utopia with a realistic view of science and a more abstract view of religion and philosophy.
Types of utopian societies
The Golden Age in Greek mythology was perhaps the first glimpse of a utopian society. Hesiod, a Greek poet, believed that there were four stages of existence before his day, the oldest being the Golden Age. There was prosperity and peace during this time, and there was no shortage of food. People were happy and lived in harmony. Society has posited many types of ideal societies, often influenced by the plague of the times.
In religion
The concept of utopia is perhaps synonymous with a Garden of Eden, an afterlife paradise, or an enlightened state of mind such as Shambhala, Nirvana, or the Elysian Fields in prominent world religions. Smaller religious groups have been established that wished to simulate a utopian society or, in their opinion, a semblance of life after death.
Especially in the early 19th century, many people wanted to live in a society governed exclusively by religion. The Shakers were an example of such a group. They believed in gender equality, celibacy, and pacifism, and had a particularly frenetic style of worship. The Amana Colonies were another utopian community established in the 18th and 19th centuries. They lived in a community, shared property, and discouraged marriage and motherhood.
They held worship sessions 11 times a week and did not believe in singing hymns or incorporating music. The Oneida Community was a religious commune founded in 1848 by John Humphrey Noyes. The utopian society believes in complex marriages, meaning that all husbands and wives are collectively owned. Another curious custom practiced by the group was criticism sessions, which were presided over by committees and used to shame wrongdoers in the community.
In Technology
In speculation and science fiction, the utopian state is set in the near or distant future. With the improvement of science and technology, as well as medicine, the life expectancy of humans increases.
In technological or science fiction utopias, the concept of the human body living forever is even posited. Other bodily functions are supposedly replaced by technology, such as organs, human reproduction, and food intake.
Technoutopianism is the concept of the natural progression of science and technology toward a utopian state. However, many of the claims made by proponents of the theory are debatable, such as technology bringing out the best in people, improving communication and interpersonal relationships, and increasing human efficiency.
In feminism
Utopia has also been conceived from a feminist point of view. In the 1970s, the concept of separate societies prevailed among radical feminists, to the point that certain groups encouraged women to move to farms and live a celibate or lesbian lifestyle. Science fiction writers have posited single-sex planets, the replacement of conventional childbirth with an artificial system, and gender equality in all roles.
The concept of an ideal society has changed dramatically since the time of Thomas More. Whether utopian or dystopian, our postulations about the future are often governed by our current view of the world and our own level of happiness. Given that sites such as Goodreads currently list 255 novels in the utopia genre and 8,333 in the dystopia genre, is this a reflection of our bleak view of the future or a morbid fascination with a pessimistic point of view?
