here's my piece on utopia:
Utopia.
James Devine
December 2, 1996
"Utopia" refers to images of an ideal society; its opposite
is "dystopia," visions of the worst society. Utopian visions make
moral principles more concrete in a way that can guide us in
creating new and different ways of organizing society and
economy. Thus, utopianism represents a radical extension of
normative economics.
As Geoffrey Hodgson (1995) argues, utopian visions have
been central to the putatively anti-utopian economics of Friedrich
Hayek, Karl Marx, and Thomas Malthus. Most modern
economists adopt a utopian vision based on principles of laissez-
faire, a descendant of Adam Smith's conception of the natural
liberty of isolated individuals working harmoniously through
markets and exchange and little positive role for government.
Though the Arrow-Debreu general equilibrium model indicates
that the assumptions necessary to the existence and stability of
this ideal are unrealistic, laissez-faire forms the intellectual basis
of the dominant school of normative economics and of current
neo-liberal ideology. On the other hand, most utopian thinking
(with the rare exception, such as The Moon is a Harsh Mistress,
by Robert Heinlein) is collectivist, emphasizing values of reason,
justice, and solidarity.
When Thomas More coined the word "utopia," he merged
two Greek words meaning "good place" and "no place." A
typical utopia is thus a morally ideal situation seen as
unobtainable, given current political, economic, societal, and
technological conditions. A serious utopian goes beyond fanciful
visions of the "Garden of Eden" variety, pre-utopian images of
the "Golden Age" of the past, and satire such as Samuel Butler's
Erewhon and tries to explain how his or her vision would be
feasible if these given conditions were to change. The more
useful utopias rely not on unreal technology or on radical
alterations of human character but on reorganized societal
arrangements which can spawn improved techniques and improve
incentives and personalities. Despite their unreachability, utopian
visions have been used as yard-sticks for judging actually-existing
societies, as guides to policy and practice, or as inspirations for
changing the world.
What follows is an incomplete survey of some utopian
contributions to political economy. (For more complete surveys,
see the references.) As Kumar (1986) points out, almost all
developed utopian thinking comes from the "Western" tradition.
This may be because utopian dreams are encouraged by the
disruption of tradition and the injustices arising from
modernization and commercialization, a process that has gone
further in the "West."
Plato's Republic, the first known utopia, is also the
earliest to argue the idea that people can benefit from the division
of labor. But rather than representing a mode of cooperation
amongst atomistic individuals, his division of labor represents
internal relations of an organic whole. Plato aimed to make that
whole healthy, to embody his ideal of justice. The social and
political structure (involving hierarchy, censorship, and an
artificial civic religion, among other things) fostered the
development of moral character in its governing Guardians. This
character insured the reproduction of the system over time.
Following Plato, and in stark contrast to neoclassical economics,
the endogeneity of human character is a common utopian theme,
implying the need for an ideal social organization to foster
personal development.
Thomas More's Utopia (1516) updates the Republic,
presenting a more concrete picture of a society that serves all
basic needs. Though written as a satire, it was a critique of the
society of his time, specifically of the British enclosure movement
and the replacement of feudal agrarian society by commercial
capitalism. Need and the work-day were reduced by more
efficient organization, partly via the abolition of unemployment
and unproductive work. Goods are produced by all in a
collectivist way and distributed freely; scholarly learning is
emphasized. This system was organized in a relatively egalitarian
and democratic way (for More's time), idealizing traditional
village or monastic life. Making it successful was the assumption
of a wise Founder and a religion that abolished the sin of pride.
Symbolizing More's anticommericalism, gold is used to make
chamber pots.
More's image of a small far-away island ideal has been
the dominant image, even as utopians embraced Jean-Jacques
republican ideas, visions of non-capitalist progress, and modern
technology. For a recent examples, see Theodor Hertzka's
imperialist but innovative Freeland (1890), Charlotte Perkins
Gilman's feminist Herland (1915), B.F. Skinner's social-
scientific Walden Two (1948), or Aldous Huxley's Buddhist and
drug-using Island (1962).
In the 19th century, utopians attempted to put utopian
ideas into practice, mostly in the Americas. First came the
agrarian and uniformitarian tradition of religious colonists and the
followers of Etienne Cabet. Later, Robert Owen proposed and set
up paternalistic and social-reforming industrial "Villages of Unity
and Mutual Cooperation" based on his success at New Lanark.
The followers of Charles Fourier tried to put his ideas of rural
phalansteries that promised to liberate human passions, including
sexual ones, and to make work a joyful activity. Though most of
these efforts failed, a small number of the utopian colonies
survived until the present.
Going beyond small-scale colonization was Edward
Bellamy's best-selling Looking Backward (1888), which
envisioned a "nationalist" utopia for the United States as a whole.
Translated into many languages, its technocratic vision (akin to
that of Henri de Saint-Simon) provoked a large spate of utopian
and dystopian thinking. This book portrays a large-scale planned
economy with no money or private property in physical goods,
centered on serving each person "from cradle to grave" according
to his or her needs. Extened leisure followed a mandatory stint in
the industrial labor army. Bellamy suggested practical solutions to
class strife in a way that, bolstered by patriotic pride, would
motivate workers from each according to their abilities. Products
were distributed using a system of central disbursement and debit
cards (which had an equal value per year per person). Unlike
most utopians, Bellamy suggested that his utopia was not only
possible but likely, as an automatic result of the centralization of
capital. Because of Karl Marx's refusal to provide utopian
"recipes for the cook-shops of the future" and the similarities of
many of Bellamy's ideas to those of crude Marxism, Bellamy's
undemocratic planned economy may have influenced Bolsheviks
grasping for ways to organize the Soviet economy.
If Bellamy represents the undemocratic "socialism from
above" tradition, William Morris' response, News from Nowhere
(1891), exemplifies the ideal of "socialism from below" which
finds its roots in utopian popular uprisings such as those of the
Levelers and Diggers during the English Civil War. Morris posits
his utopia as arising from a process of workers' class struggle
(violently resisted by the capitalists). Its political system is that of
grass-roots community democracy, while the Parliament building
is used to store dung. Most interesting to economists is the
abolition of scarcity: the pleasure inherent in doing craft-type
work under one's own control increases the supply of
commodities, while the pleasure of working co-operatively with
one's friends makes even the drudge work pleasant. Yet more
obnoxious tasks would be done with automated technology or
abolished. On the other hand, the demand for products is lower,
since people no longer have to consume to fill psychological
voids imposed by alienation, to compensate for their boring and
dominated working lives. In effect, prices are zero. Finally,
Morris' emphasis on the aesthetic dimension of life produces one
of the first ecological utopias, preserving not only nature but
beautiful old buildings.
While the 19th century evoked a wave of utopian dreams,
most of the 20th century elicited dystopian nightmares, from Jack
London's The Iron Heel (1907), to Aldous Huxley's Brave New
World (1932), to George Orwell's 1984 (1948). The first
predicted the rise of fascism; the second critiques Henry Ford-
style capitalism; the third lambastes Stalinism and Bellamy-style
socialism. But the New Left of the 1960s sparked utopias
concerned with the ecology, sexism, racism, and
authoritarianism. Notable here are Ernest Callenbach's Ecotopia,
Marge Piercy's Woman on the Edge of Time, and Ursula
LeGuinn's The Dispossessed. Though such novels have
broadened the concerns of utopians beyond narrow "industrial"
issues, they stand on the shoulders of the giants discussed above.
Partial References:
Bellamy, Edward. 1888. Looking Backward. New York: New
American Library, 1960.
Claeys, Gregory. 1987. Utopias. In Eatwell, John, Murray
Milgate, and Peter Newman, eds. The New Palgrave.
London: Macmillan: 783-6.
Geoghegan, Vincent. 1987. Utopianism and Marxism. London:
Methuen.
Hodgson, Geoffrey M. 1995. The Political Economy of Utopia.
Review of Social Economy. 53(2) Summer: 195-213.
Kumar, Krishan. 1986. Utopia and Anti-Utopia in Modern
Times. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell.
Levitas, Ruth. 1990. The Concept of Utopia. Syracuse U.P.
Loubier, Leo. 1974. Utopian Socialism: Its History since 1800.
Cambridge, MA: Schenkman.
Morris, William. 1891. News from Nowhere. London: Routledge
& Kegan Paul, 1970.
Reviewer: Jim Devine (professional name: James Devine)
Professor of Economics
Econ. Dept., Loyola Marymount Univ.
7900 Loyola Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90045-8410 USA
310/338-2948 (work); FAX: 310/338-1950
310/202-6546 (home)
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date: 2 December 1996
