SOC 1150 - Utopia in Theory and Practice

(SBA-AS)

Spring. 3 credits.

D. Strang.

People have always sought to imagine and realize a better sort of society, with both inspiring and disastrous results. In this course, we discuss the literary utopias of Moore, Morris, Bellamy, and the dystopias of Huxley, Orwell, and Zamiatin. We also examine real social experiments, including 19th-century intentional communities, 20th-century socialisms and religious cults, and modern ecological, political, and millennial movements. Throughout, the emphasis is on two sociological questions. What kinds of social relationships appear as ideal? How can we tell societies that might work from those that cannot?

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