What Is A Utopia?
“Utopia” is a word that we often find in our daily life. It is used as an argument or a counter-argument when talking about idyllic or hypothetical societies. However, the term “utopia” has a greater depth than what society shows us. It is therefore important to ask a question: what really is a utopia?
Above all, we can rely on the etymology and origin of this concept. The term utopia comes from the Greek and literally means “non-place”, which represents a place that does not exist. This term was first used in Thomas More’s novel Utopia . This famous tale takes place on an island with a peaceful and idyllic government and constitutes a critique of the political organization of the 15th and 16th centuries.
Throughout the article, in order to understand in depth the concept of utopia, we will focus on its definition and its usefulness. This will help us to use this term and not to fall into this line of thought which makes utopia a synonym for the impossible.
Definition of utopia
For a very long time, the company has dreamed of an idyllic world and of a perfect way to run the company. It was from there that the term utopia was born. It consists of a theorization of how one should organize, in a perfect way, a society, a state, a community or part of them. An important aspect is that this hypothetical world does not refer to immediate utility, it does not seek to find a political system that can apply in the current context.
When this theorization is constructed, we are actually looking for the form of the best possible system. We try to give shape to the idea from theoretical terms, without taking into account the degree of difficulty when transposing this idea or this diagram to reality. In this way, one can hypothetically create a perfect society. However, the idea of the perfection of society is something ambiguous and interpretative; a fact, throughout history and depending on the individual, has almost always changed constantly.
We can find a multitude of examples of utopias throughout history. One of the oldest is perhaps Plato’s utopia. In the latter, society would be divided into three classes assigned according to their skills and abilities: the political class, the military class and the producer class. Thus, the proper functioning and management of these classes would ensure a perfect and peaceful society.
We can also find more modern utopias, like utopian socialism. This was created as a critique of capitalism and the exploitation of individuals through the appropriation of their labor power. This utopia is based on a cooperative and self-managed society. Through mutual support, collective work and the decision of an assembly, we would achieve an optimal functioning of society.
The utility of utopia
Utopia is a broad and deep concept, widely used by philosophers, thinkers and politicians. However, the question that we could now ask ourselves is: what use has the creation of a perfect society at the abstract level which could face a lot of resistance if there is a will to transpose it to reality? We can all be wrong and believe that utopias lack pragmatism or only have literary utility or hobby, but they are not.
When judging the usefulness of a utopia, we can find four different functions. These will depend on what the author is looking for when creating an idyllic company. These functions would be as follows:
- Function of criticism: a utility of utopias is to criticize the current social organization. Building a utopian system serves to see / measure how far the current social organization is from it. This serves to question the validity of the present social system and to assess the need for political change.
- Evaluative function: another function extremely linked to the previous one would be that which underlines the influence of utopia in the study of different societies. Utopias can be used to reflect on the different methods of social organization and thus better understand our political and social system.
- Function of bearer of hope: we can also find a more humanistic meaning of the term. Some utopias have the function of creating hope in human beings. To try to convey to individuals the idea that a better society is possible.
- Guide function: finally, and this is perhaps the most useful function, utopia can be used as an objective or a goal. Establishing something perfect and ideal as a goal serves to maintain continuous progress and not get stuck in the false illusion that we live in the best system possible.
The term utopia is very often used as a synonym for the impossible. It is even attributed to an idealistic and unhelpful character. However, this conception is wrong: utopias allow us to identify the objective to be reached, they function like compasses. This is not to be taken lightly because one of the most powerful motivations for human beings is to seek what is best for them.
Our thoughts Social political psychology has been tasked with broadly investigating the factors that influence the direction of our political vote.
