Another World is Possible or Impossible?
A Preliminary Insight into the Issues and Legacies of Robert Owen’s Utopian Experiment of New Harmony
Mingyue (Jessica) Wu
999948197
HPS202: Technology in Modern World
March 30, 2014
Utopia: An imaginary or hypothetical place or state of things considered to be perfect… Latin=no-place (from Greek ou not + topos place)
—The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, Fifth edition
Do you believe in Utopia? “No” might have been the answer for the majority of people since the invention of this word. However, the answer never stopped people from trying. Hundreds of social theorist and reformers have devoted themselves into studying and conducting Utopian experiments in their preoccupation with optimism. Among all, Robert Owen’s experiment in New Harmony has an enormous place in American and even human history yet has never been adequately appreciated in spite of its inevitable failure. It is worthwhile to trace back to delve into the issues and influences that the New Harmony experiment brought us; what led to the drifting apart of the people in New Harmony and how the death-bed of Robert Owen’s ‘social system’ eventually altered to the birthplace of other significant movements.
To begin with, the major issue to address is the composition of the members in New Harmony. According to a statement from the constitution proposed by Robert Owen on April, 1817:
Persons of all ages and descriptions, exclusive of persons of color, may become members of the preliminary society. Persons of color may be received as helpers to the society; if necessary; or it may be found useful to prepare and enable them to become associates in communities in Africa, or in some other c...
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...m up, Robert Owen’s Utopian community experiments might have been flawed by issues like underestimation of productivity and individualism, lack of administration power, insufficiency of understanding for community, Mr. Robert Owen will still be of interest today. His unique perspective and progressive positivity will always foreshadow the emancipating ideas with respects to education, gender quality, and social development and so on.
Another world is possible? The answer probably will still be ‘No’, especially when wars, famines, and numerous inequalities are very much dominating the majority of the world. There is no immediate fix. Yet, almost on hundred years after his New Harmony blueprint, his thoughtful insight as legacies can still illuminate the dark on the path of searching for a better world, from a small county in Indiana, America, to the whole human race.
were not as radical as the transformation to democratic thought. It is here that Wood points out the “uncontrolla...
What would happen if an utopia wasn’t all that perfect on the inside? Judging by just the appearance of something may lead to a situation of regret and confusion.” The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” by Ursula K. Le Guin and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson address the theme of religious and traditional symbolism.” The Lottery” demonstrates how something that seems so perfect on the outside isn’t all that great on the inside.
A utopian society is very hard to come across these days. People tend to start a utopian society in order to better the life’s of others. Bronson Alcott of the Fruitland Community tries to find a utopian society that will last and be productive. The Fruitland’s goal is to abstain from worldly activity and integrate systems of trade and labor in order to find spirituality.
Imagine a place where everything is perfect. There is a place where there is no warfare, where all. All politics, laws, customs, and traditions are respected. A place where there is sameness among all the citizens and everyone is content and happy. This place would be considered a utopia.
One of the reasons, the so called Utopia fails to exist time and again when attempts are taken solely on the ground of equity is that, even the most idyllic society is somewhat built on the foundation of pain, sacrifice of the weak for the benefits of strong. From the analysis of Omelas and the contemporary North American societies it is clear that there is no Utopia.
Published in 1816, Owen’s A New Life for Society was a discussion to try and mend Great Britain’s institutional problems with the working class while avoiding violent revolution. He saw that there needed to be changes to the constitution as well as laws that punished the poor to prevent the vices of society. To do this, Owen asserts to, “withdraw those national laws which chiefly emanate from that erroneous doctrine… training the population to almost every kind of crime. For these laws are, without chance of failure, adapted to produce a long train of crimes.” Owen’s ideology was that starvation, theft, and drunkenness emanated from ignorance being indoctrinated into the poor masses, and universal education was the logical solution. This is apparent as the author argues that, “a national system of education for the poor…to think calmly on these subjects… and they will become conscious of the absurdities and inconsistencies in which their forefathers have trained them… they will exert their utmost faculties to remove the cause of so much misery to man.” All three socialist thinkers believed in free education for the working class. However, it was Owen who believed that enlightenment of the masses would bring about real change and long-term stability in
A “utopia is that which is in contradiction with reality,” said the famous French novelist Albert Camus in his collection of essays, Between Hell and Reason. History shows us that seemingly exemplary ideals in practice have led to the collapse of societies. Just examine the two most prominent attempts at a utopia: Hitler’s attempt to socialize all of Europe and create the “perfect” Aryan race coupled with Karl Marx’s beliefs to instate communism into society. The final result was the destruction of their perspective visionary worlds. There was one major facet that prevented these two from creating their paradigms: utopias take away individual freedom and identity and therefore society cannot exist. Aldous Huxley’s science fiction novel Brave New World examines the large disconnect between the future and present day societies, showing how several aspects of this dystopian world lead to the downfall of the individual identity, most prominently exemplified by the death of John Savage.
Johnson, Charles, Patricia Smith, and WGBH Series Research Team. Africans in America. New York: Harcourt, Inc. 1998.
Social Stratification in the African American community has changed over the years. Social stratification is defined as a rigid subdivision of a society into a hierarchy of layers, differentiated on the basis of power, prestige, and wealth according to Webster’s dictionary. David Newman in Sociology Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life describes stratification as a ranking system for groups of people that perpetuates unequal rewards and life chances in society. From slavery to the present, the African American community has been seen to have lower status compared to white people. Today, the stratification or hierarchy difference between whites and black are not really noticeable, but it is still present. However, during slavery, the difference in social stratification was noticeable. Whites dominated over the blacks and mulattoes (offspring of a white and black parent). The mulattoes were seen to have a higher stratification than an offspring of black ancestry. Because the mulattoes were related to the whites, they were able to obtain higher education and better occupations than blacks. For example, most slaves of a lighter skin tone worked in the houses and darker slaves worked in the fields. As the people of light skin tone had children, they were able to have advantages too. The advantages have led into the society of today. In this paper I will discuss how stratification has been affected in the African American community over time by skin tone to make mulattoes more privileged than dark skin blacks.
The oxford dictionary describes as “an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect. Sir Thomas More first used this word; he was born in 1478 in London, England and came to be one of the most influential figures of the early Renaissance. Not only did he work as a lawyer but he was also a well respected philosopher and historian as well as writer. In 1516, Moore wrote Utopia, a book based off of fiction and political philosophy. Utopia has been with us since the beginning of time – all religions for example has an idea of a perfect place; the Garden of Eden and paradise are examples within the Catholic religion. When Moore first created the word for a book entitles Utopia, the word itself is derived for the Greek ju meaning ‘no’ and toʊpiə meaning ‘place’ therefore the literal translation would be ‘no place.’ However, it could also mean ‘good place’ as eu(topia) means good(place). This idea of no place and good place juxtapose each other and also arise the concept of an ‘ideal’ place being elsewhere – out of the reach of human beings – or just does not exist.
Economically there was also inequality in society in this era. There was a lot of competition and in the market and it even made possible to have small societies with equality in order to set an example and change. Robert Owen believed in this and wrote the speech in 1825 “The First Discourse on a New System on Society”. He believed that if people worked together and helped each other in a social system, then everyone could get benefited from this society. In the speech, the reader can see that his idea of this society would be that no one won't be more privileged than others. He had this idea of a union and co-corporation working together to give everyone the same chance to become rich. His ideas would be hard to carry out but that was this
In the nineteenth century, man believed in the perfectibility of mankind and in the real possibility of an ultimate utopia, a time when man could all live together in peace. However, the events of the twentieth century have weakened that belief. Both cold and hot wars have followed each other in succession. Revolutions and civil wars have taken place and totalitarianism has become a fact that can hardly be ignored. Therefore, the modern age has become a time in which more anti-utopias have been envisioned than ever before.
Utopia as a text is a clear reflection and representation of More’s passion for ideas and art. Through the character of Raphael, More projects and presents his ideas, concepts and beliefs of politics and society. More’s Utopia aims to create a statement on the operations and effectiveness of the society of England. This text is a general reflection of More’s idea of a perfectly balanced and harmonious society. His ideas and concepts of society somewhat contrast to the rest of 16th century England and indicate a mind that was far ahead of its time. A number of issues and themes are raised throughout the text to which More provides varying views and opinions. These are transmitted and projected through the perspectives of the fictional Raphael, More and Giles.
Frank E. Manuel and Manuel Frtizie, Utopian Thought in the Western World. London: Belknap Press 1982
Manuel, Frank E. and Fritzie P. Manuel. Utopian Thought in the Western World. Cambridge, MA: Belknap-Harvard Press, 1979.