Utopia: Social Theory and the Future

Michael Hviid Jacobsen is Professor of Sociology at Aalborg University, Denmark, and co-editor of The Sociology of Zygmunt Bauman, Encountering the Everyday, and The Transformation of Modernity. Keith Tester is Professor at The Thesis Eleven Centre for Cultural Sociology at LaTrobe University, Australia and Senior Fellow at the Centrum Myśli Jana Pawła II, Warsaw, Poland. He is author of Humanitarianism and Modern Culture, Moral Culture, The Social Thought of Zygmunt Bauman, and Animals and Society.

• Contents: Introduction: utopia as a topic for social theory, Michael Hviid Jacobsen and Keith Tester; Part I Theoretical Musings: Utopia and the end of history, Henk de Berg; What is concrete about Ernst Bloch’s ’concrete utopia’?, Peter Thompson; Dreams, visions and utopias - romantic and realist revolutionaries and the idyllic, Arpad Szakolczai; Liquid modern 'utopia' - Zygmunt Bauman on the transformation of utopia, Michael Hviid Jacobsen; Houellebecq’s dystopia - a case of the elective affinity between sociology and literature, Anders Petersen and Michael Hviid Jacobsen. Part II Theories in Motion: Utopia and criminology, Peter Young; Utopianism, dystopianism and ecological thought, Kate Rigby; Social movement as utopian practice, Andrew Jamison; Virtual utopias and dystopias - the cultural imaginary of the internet, Majid Yar; Utopias of mobility, Ole B. Jensen and Malene Freudendal-Pedersen; Index.

’These essays, concerned with contemporary issues, make a significant contribution to understanding the roles that utopianism can play in helping us both improve our understanding of the issues and change our lives for the better.’ Lyman Tower Sargent, University of Missouri-St. Louis, USA ’Utopia was a great idea, till round 1917. After that, we face a hinge: utopia/dystopia. The great virtue of this book is to point us back before, outside, under, over and beyond this: to reconsider utopia, and to open social theory out to utopia again. It points beyond the graveyards, to utopian fields still open to imagination and endeavour.’ Peter Beilharz, La Trobe University, Australia ’Firmly rooted in the intellectual traditions of sociology, social and political theory and philosophy, this enjoyable and interesting collection of essays presents itself as a forum for reflection on utopia...’ L’indice dei libri del mese