Utopias (eBook)

Howard P. Segal is Bird Professor of History at the University of Maine, where he has taught since 1986. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. from Princeton University. His previous books include Technological Utopianism in American Culture (1985), Future Imperfect: The Mixed Blessings of Technology in America (1994), Technology in America: A Brief History (1989, 1999, with Alan Marcus), and Recasting the Machine Age: Henry Ford's Village Industries (2005). He also reviews for, among other publications, Nature and the Times Higher Education.

Preface xi

Introduction 1

1 The Nature of Utopias 5

Utopias Defined 5

Utopias Differ from both Millenarian Movements and Science
Fiction 8

Utopias' Spiritual Qualities are Akin to those of Formal
Religions 9

Utopias'Real Goal: Not Prediction of the Future but Improvement
of the Present 12

How and When Utopias are Expected to be Established 13

2 The Variety of Utopias 16

The Global Nature of Utopias: Utopias are Predominantly but not
Exclusively Western 16

The Several Genres of Utopianism: Prophecies and Oratory,
Political Movements, Communities, Writings, World's Fairs,
Cyberspace 24

3 The European Utopias and Utopians and Their Critics
47

The Pioneering European Visionaries and Their Basic Beliefs:
Plato's Republic and More's Utopia 47

Forging the Connections Between Science, Technology, and Utopia
50

The Pansophists 53

The Prophets of Progress: Condorcet, Saint-Simon, and Comte
55

Dissenters from the Ideology of Unadulterated Scientific and
Technological Progress: Thomas Carlyle, John Ruskin, and William
Morris 58

The Expansive Visions of Robert Owen and Charles Fourier 60

The "Scientific"Socialism of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
66

4 The American Utopias and Utopians and Their Critics
74

America as Utopia: Potential and Fulfillment 74

The Pioneering American Visionaries and their Basic Beliefs in
America as Land of Opportunity: John Adolphus Etzler, Thomas
Ewbank, and Mary Griffith 78

America as "Second Creation": Enthusiasm and Disillusionment
81

5 Growing Expectations of Realizing Utopia in the United
States and Europe 89

Later American Technological Utopians: John Macnie Through
Harold Loeb 89

Utopia Within Sight: The American Technocracy Crusade 96

Utopia Within Reach: "The Best and the
Brightest"--Post-World War II Science and Technology Policy in
the United States and Western Europe and the Triumph of the Social
Sciences 99

On Misreading Frankenstein: How Scientific and Technological
Advances have Changed Traditional Criticisms of Utopianism in the
Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries 123

6 Utopia Reconsidered 139

The Growing Retreat from Space Exploration and Other
Megaprojects 139

Nuclear Power: Its Rise, Fall, and Possible Revival--Maine
Yankee as a Case Study 142

The Declining Belief in Inventors, Engineers, and Scientists as
Heroes; in Experts as Unbiased; and in Science and Technology as
Social Panaceas 157

Contemporary Prophets for Profit: The Rise and Partial Fall of
Professional Forecasters 160

Post-colonial Critiques of Western Science and Technology as
Measures of "Progress"169

7 The Resurgence of Utopianism 186

The Major Contemporary Utopians and Their Basic Beliefs 186

Social Media: Utopia at One's Fingertips 193

Recent and Contemporary Utopian Communities 194

The Star Trek Empire: Science Fiction Becomes Less Escapist
199

Edutopia: George Lucas and Others 203

The Fate of Books and Newspapers: Utopian and Dystopian
Aspirations 217

8 The Future of Utopias and Utopianism 234

The "Scientific and Technological Plateau"and the Redefinition
of Progress 234

Conclusion: Why Utopia Still Matters Today and Tomorrow 241

Further Reading 261

Index 269

"To conclude: Segal's book on utopias is a well-made treatise on an important aspect of European and American history. He convincingly shows that utopias had a political, as well as an economic, relevance. The view on the interaction between different cultural systems, such as art, politics, religion, technology, and economics, is a great strength of the book. It shows how complex processes around utopian visions have been, and how relevant they are for the implementation and change of different cultural spheres." (Religion, 30 May 2015)



"Segal does a good job of surveying the history of utopias, particularly focusing on the connections with science and technology. Histories of this topic tend to highlight the religious or cultural motivations for writing about or creating utopian societies, but here the author expands the discussion to include virtual communities ... This text provides a unique approach for teaching history and the history of science. Highly recommended: general readers; lower-division undergraduates and above." Choice (1 February 2013)

"Segal brings considerable scholarship and experience to bear, particularly on the historical intersections between technology and utopia ... [He] covers several continents and many centuries, addressing key texts and thinkers ... [and] supplies impressive coverage and thoughtful interpretations." Times Higher Education (12 July 2012)

"A 'near perfect' account of utopias and utopian thinking of thepast, present, and future. Historian Howard Segal revisits utopianideologies revealing their perennial appeal, their use and misuseof technology, and their considerable power to reshape society,then and now."
--James Rodger Fleming, Colby College

"An expansive, entertaining and provocative introduction toutopianism and its practitioners ... Utopias captures both thewhimsical extravagance as well as the earnestness of attempts(western as well as non-western) to imagine better futures and thenactually create better societies across the ages ... [It] is boundto stimulate thought on the subject, and will appeal to a widereadership."
--Greg Claeys, University of London

"Segal offers a focus on 'western' expressions of utopianismwhile devoting substantial space to diversity. Hence we find theexpected discussions of literature from More to Bellamy and Wellsand beyond ... but there are also interesting examinations ofutopias from China, Japan, India, and Latin America; andsubsections on World's Fairs, professional forecasters, cyberspace,Megaprojects, social media, E-books, and George Lucas'sEdutopia."
--Kenneth M. Roemer, University of Texas atArlington

"The potential for good of science and technology, and theirmanifest dangers and pitfalls, are vividly evoked by Segal in hisaccessible account of utopias past and present. This is a work ofinsight and reflection."
--Barbara Goodwin, University of East Anglia