‏‎intellectuals: utopias of dystopias‎‏

Envisioning Real Utopias

A BOOK on utopias by a Marxist sociologist seems promising, perhaps even courageous. In Envisioning Real Utopias, Erik Olin Wright seeks to counter widespread cynicism about radical social transformation. To do this he offers what he calls “real utopias,” which might appear a contradiction or oxymoron. For Wright, however, utopias are not fantasies, or not only fantasies. In the current period ...

Scientific Utopias

Intellectuals and New Technologies

Critical intellectuals were traditionally those who utilized their skills of speaking and writing to denounce injustices and abuses of power, and to fight for truth, justice, progress, and other positive values. In the words of Jean-Paul Sartre (1974: 285), "the duty of the intellectual is to denounce injustice wherever it occurs." The modern critical intellectual's field of action was what Hab...

Guidelines for Envisioning Real Utopias

This essay explores five general guidelines for discussions of democratic egalitarian alternatives to existing institutions in contemporary capitalist societies: (1) Evaluate alternatives in terms of three criteria: desirability, viability, achievability. (2) Do not let the problem of achievability dictate the discussion of viability. (3) Clarify the problem of winners and losers in structural ...

Transforming Capitalism through Real Utopias

This address explores a broad framework for thinking sociologically about emancipatory alternatives to dominant institutions and social structures, especially capitalism. The framework is grounded in two foundational propositions: (1) Many forms of human suffering and many deficits in human flourishing are the result of existing institutions and social structures. (2) Transforming existing inst...

Intellectuals and the Rise of Mass Politics