Why Utopian Societies Fail

The idea of utopia has been used throughout history, but what impact does this idea have? Utopias, or the “ perfect societies “ are not possible, and this is due to many factors that hinder the progress of a society that seeks to become a utopia. Along with this, many utopian experiments have failed in the past, showing how there are many problems that come with trying to create a perfect society, and so far, no perfect utopia or society has appeared, and it is very unlikely that a perfect society will ever exist. Although many believe that this is due to human nature, there are also other factors that have led and will lead to the downfall of any utopian experiments. Factors such as restrictions, lack/decrease of productivity, and moral/religious

At first, the colony acted as a communal society, having such plans as equality and sharing of resources and food among the community from their own labor. Although this was the plan for the society, we find out in the article “ Why Utopias Fail “ from governor William Bradford that the result of this would be “injustice, indignity, and a kind of slavery.” This would lead to a lack of productivity and the starving of the citizens. But, after abandoning the ideas of communal ownership and equality, success would follow, as harvests would increase, ending their famine. We also learn that, “Hundreds of utopian experiments followed Plymouth-religious and secular, communist and individualistic, radical and moderate.” and that ,”... all had to make impossible sacrifices in the service of their ideals.” This significantly contributes to the idea of restriction and productivity that have led to the downfall of utopian experiments. Many utopian experiments have tried to enforce their morals/ideals onto their citizens by restrictions and their power, leading to a decrease of productivity, which leads to either the further abuse of power/restrictions to increase productivity, or the abandoning of the utopian society in favor for a more moderate lifestyle, both showing the impossibility of a perfect society due to the means needed to do