Utopias

Howard P. Segal is well known to the utopian scholarly community, particularly with his excellent work on technology and utopianism in publications such as Technological Utopianism in American Culture (1985), Future Imperfect: The Mixed Blessings of Technology in America (1994), Technology in America: A Brief History (1989, 2nd ed. 1999, with Alan Marcus), and Recasting the Machine Age: Henry Ford's Village Industries (2005). His most recent book, Utopias: A Brief History from Ancient Writings to Virtual Communities, is part of the Wiley-Blackwell Brief Histories of Religion Series and serves as an introduction to key cultural and religious terms/movements. Segal does not shy away from bold definitions and delineations to separate utopias from millenarianism and science fiction, from abstract utopias and daydreams. He chooses the term genuine utopia to indicate “a radical improvement of physical, social, economic, and psychological conditions” (5). “Genuine utopias,” argues Segal, “frequently seek not to escape from the real world but to make the real world better” (7). However, bold definitions lead to the exclusion of important nuances, debates, and writers. So, for example, H. G. Wells is largely neglected, as Segal largely dismisses science fiction as “escapist fantasies.” This is an interesting but problematic point, as Segal celebrates the scientific and technological aspects of utopia in particular. Perhaps a pointer toward and engagement with critics such as Darko Suvin would have illuminated Segal's position more constructively.Segal starts off by outlining the manifold manifestations that utopias and utopianism have had, from biblical prophecies to world fair exhibitions and cyberspace communities: “Because utopianism is usually studied piecemeal, it is important to recognize its multiple dimensions and the relationships between them” (24). This is an ambitious project, and Segal manages to bring together many aspects and dimensions of utopia and utopianism.In his historical overview, he particularly excels in the historical intersection between technology and utopia, a particular specialism of Segal. He moves on to more contemporary examples with particular focus on technology again and as a case in point for the relationship between utopianism and its practical transformative relevance, presents a case study of the Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company. This section traces the rise and fall of nuclear power in a small U.S. state as a very problematic test case of a utopian scheme undermined in the “real” world. The presentation of the clash of “utopian” visions of a bright technological future with environmental and political concerns is not convincing, as the case study would have needed to explore the relationship between utopia and ideology.The chapter “The Resurgence of Utopianism” also addresses failed education initiatives at the University of Illinois and the University of Maine but again, to be useful, should have explored them more critically and theoretically. Perhaps the inclusion of the Occupy movement, particularly the debate around free education and plans for an Occupy University, would have made this section more relevant to readers around the world. The question is, indeed, How can we think a utopia that is radical and meaningful? As Jameson puts forward, “We have seen that there is a way in which postmodernism replicates or reproduces—reinforces—the logic of consumer capitalism; the more significant question is whether there is also a way in which it resists that logic.”1 Segal's answer seems to be that utopia and utopianism need to launch thought experiments from “the scientific and technological plateau” (234). Not denying the historic and contemporary worries about technologies as progress, Segal would advocate scientific and technological advances to “experiencing alternatives,” that is, via virtual reality, before moving to action and the realization of utopia. Thus, what was once the domain of the literary utopia, the imagining of other worlds, is now the domain of the virtual: “Consequently, utopianism may thus have a bright future after all” (255).Utopias is a succinct and engaging account of a subject that is notoriously difficult to introduce to academics and general readers alike—and the massive volume of Frank and Fritzie P. Manuel, Utopian Thought in the Western World (1979), is not for everyone. Thus, understandably, for clarity's sake, some of the issues around definitions or illustrations of case studies have been simplified, but to my mind, they are oversimplified. I would argue that the reader deserves an indication of different positions and debates, albeit only in the footnotes.Two examples will suffice. First, scholars have debated vigorously and extensively about the terms utopia, dystopia, anti-utopia, and so on. Segal's introduction of “genuine” utopia and “false” utopia, “pre-utopia” and “non-utopia,” deserves more contextualization and illumination.Second, Segal's particular scholarly interest is progress and the pioneering spirit in America's history. This perhaps explains why Segal's emphasis is precisely on America and partly Europe, while the book only very briefly touches on utopianism in Latin America, Japan, and India. Indeed Segal's thesis is that utopianism and utopia are particularly Western phenomena. This is a contentious issue in many ways. If we follow Ernst Bloch's understanding, the propensity for utopian desire and hope is human and universal, and its expression is diverse and manifold. Scholars such as Lyman Tower Sargent would argue that non-Western utopias have not been explored in any satisfactory way, thus paving the way for future research.2 Given that Segal's book appears in a series on religion and culture, the inclusion of liberation theology, for instance, in the debate about utopia in Latin America would have fruitfully added to the discussion.These reservations aside, Utopias is an accessible and thought-provoking introduction to utopias and utopianism and will appeal to scholars, students, and the general reader alike

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