Utopian Societies-The Impossible Dream

Author: Haslar
English 102

Throughout history, countries have stride towarRAB an ideal society in which everyone can live in peace and harmony. This has found to be a universal goal, but unfortunately there has also been a universal problem, no one has ever been able to produce this ideal society without something going wrong. A utopia is a place of ideal perfection for all people especially in laws, government, and social conditions. A utopian society is an impossible goal because "it is an impractical scheme for social improvement."(Langenscheidt, "New College English dictionary 1302) It would fail in many areas due to different ideas and beliefs by people that would live in this society. These areas could be government, religion, economy, as well as personal freedoms and choices. In this essay I will prove why a utopian society is impossible by going into detail with some of these areas.
Ever since the beginning of societies, everyone has had a different idea on what the perfect form of government is. Hitler thought it should be totalitarian, Washington thought it should be democratic, and Stalin thought it should be communist. So who is right? Is anyone right? Under a utopian society, totalitarianism wouldn't be the best because that society would be more perfect for one person than another. Communism wouldn't be the right choice because the government would have too much control over everyone's lives and being controlled isn't ideal for many people. A democratic society wouldn't work either because you would always have people like Hitler and Stalin walking around that wouldn't agree with it therefore the utopian side of it would be lost. You couldn't even have anarchy as the problem fixer because it would end up causing more problems and chaos due to no set rules or laws. So no one type of government would be able to prevail, due to the opposition by certain people under that particular rule.
Religion is probably the ultimate destroyer for the possibility of a utopian society. Think of the world today, there are hundreRAB if not thousanRAB of religions throughout the world. Can you imagine the world consisting of only one measly religion? That is impossible, especially due to the wide range and variety of the different religions. In "A Day in Utopia," More states "In that case, they say, any fool could tell you what you ought to do. You should go all out for your own pleasure, irrespective of right and wrong."(More, "Utopia" 635). I know for sure that the truly religious people that I know wouldn't agree with that. Also, do you think that the Muslims and Buddhists on the other side of the world would want to conform to being a Christian, or Roman Catholic, or visa versa? I don't think so, I know I wouldn't do it. So having Buddhism as the religion in the utopian society would make it very non-utopian for me, and if the religion was Roman Catholic, even though that would be utopian for me it would be very non utopian for a Buddhist. So the religion factor would make a utopian society impossible.
Now what do you think the ideal economy would be in a utopian society? Would it be socialist, or capitalist, or even something new? Well a capitalist economy would definitely be out of the question. Having people under different social classes such as rich, middle class, and poor isn't very fair or utopian like especially for the poor people. It would also be unfair for the rich people. I'm sure that the rich people would just love to be made equal with the poorer people, especially after all the hard work they went through to get were they are. A socialist economy would also be unsuccessful under a utopian society's standarRAB. Since the government controls almost all businesses and means of transportation, and since we already discussed how one type of government wouldn't work, this economic system obviously wouldn't either.
Throughout time people have always enjoyed making their own personal choices as well as enjoying their personal freedoms. Under a utopian society many of your rights would be lost. They would be lost because you would have to conform in order for everyone to unite under an ideal society or utopia. Can you imagine not being able to make certain choices or decisions just because it wasn't in the best interest of the society? In today's society people can make those decisions without worrying about the society's best interest. An example of this is the choice to smoke by many people. This habit doesn't serve the society's best interest but still they do it. Another example of personal freedom is the choice to work, even though the rest of society frowns upon you if you don't. An article from the internet states that;
"This appears very plainly in Utopia, for there, in a
great society, and in all the territory that lies round
it, you can scarce find 500, either men or women, by their
age and strength, are capable of labor, that are not
engaged in it; even the syphogrants, though excused by the
law, yet do not excuse themselves, but work, that by their
examples they may excite the industry of the rest of the
people."(Utopia, Thomas More 2).
Through all these reasons I have shown why a utopia can't and would not work. It is an impractical scheme for social improvement. No matter how perfect we try to make the society there will always be certain aspects of it that will make it not perfect due to certain people's views and beliefs. The utopian society is supposed to be a perfect society for all yet there will always be people with different wants and neeRAB, so it will never be able to work out. Until people change their ways and are ready to conform, we just have to settle for a near perfect society.


Works Cited

More, Thomas. "Book II: Of their Trades, and Manner of Life. World Wide Web. 3-22-99 http://www.d-hoiday.com/tmore/utopia005.htm

More, Thomas. "from Utopia, "A Day in Utopia." "Current Issues and Enduring Questions" Sylvan Barnet, Hugo Bedau.

Langenscheidt Publishers, Inc. "New College Merriam-Webster English Dictionary." 1998. Pg. 1302 "Utopia"