The tragedy of utopia in the age of the Anthropocene: Beyond dystopia, despair and catastrophic futures

Featherstone, Mark

Abstract

My key objective in this article is to explore the history of the concept of utopia and its application in really existing social, political, economic and cultural forms. Starting with a consideration of what I call the economy of utopia, I theorise the desire for the ideal society in terms of a deeply human drive to seek to overcome vulnerability, limitation and finitude that is set upon failure and the fall towards dystopia by virtue of the fact that it is this very lack that defines the being of the human animal. Following this section of the article, in the second part of my piece, I move on to trace the history of utopia from the visions of Ancients, through the idealism of the Moderns, up to the champions of the theory of the end of history and a utopian version of capitalism. Finally, in conclusion, I focus on the catastrophic impacts of this global utopia of capitalism realised in the form of the Anthropocene and imagine a truly human, tragic utopia founded upon a recognition of our constitutive lack, vulnerability and finitude.

Citation

Featherstone, M. (2024). The tragedy of utopia in the age of the Anthropocene: Beyond dystopia, despair and catastrophic futures. European Journal of Social Theory, https://doi.org/10.1177/13684310241234180

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 1, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Mar 6, 2024
• Publication Date: Mar 6, 2024
• Deposit Date: Mar 6, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 6, 2024
• Journal: European Journal of Social Theory
• Print ISSN: 1368-4310
• Electronic ISSN: 1461-7137
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/13684310241234180
• Keywords: Anthropocene; catastrophe; dystopia; tragedy; utopia
• Public URL: https://keele-repository.worktribe.com/output/761568