Utopian studies



Utopian studies is an interdisciplinary field of study that researches utopianism in all its forms, including utopian politics, utopian literature and art, utopian theory, and intentional communities. In a 1516 book with the same name, the term utopia was created by Sir Thomas More. Utopian studies can be subdivided into three major parts: study of utopian works, communitarianism and utopian social theory. A study opposite to Utopian studies is Dystopian studies. While Utopias are non-existent societies people dream of, dystopias are essentially non-existent and non-desirable societies that individuals deem worse than their present society. They are also known as negative utopias.

History
Denis Vairasse is mentioned among the earliest scholars in this field. His History of the Sevarambians contains one of the first thoughts on theoretical reflection on the concept of utopia: "Those who have read Plato's Republic or the Utopia of Thomas More or Chancellor Bacon's New Atlantis, which are in fact nothing more than the ingenious inventions ["imaginations"] of these authors, may think perhaps that this account of newly discovered countries, with all their marvels, is of a similar type ["sont de ce genre"]."

After the Summer of Love in 1960s, there was a significant increase in utopian works. The Society for Utopian Studies was founded in 1975 and the Utopian Studies Society was founded in 1988.

Significant utopian studies scholars (in roughly chronological order)

 * Herbert Marcuse
 * Karl Mannheim
 * Ernst Bloch
 * Krishnan Kumar
 * Raymond Williams
 * Darko Suvin
 * Lyman Tower Sargent
 * Gregory Claeys
 * Erik Olin Wright
 * Ruth Levitas
 * Tom Moylan
 * Fredric Jameson
 * Lucy Sargisson
 * Vincent Geoghegan
 * Raffaella Baccolini

Principal research institutions, journals, conferences, societies, awards
Research institutions:

Societies:
 * Society for Utopian Studies (North America, founded 1975)
 * Utopian Studies Society (Europe, founded 1988)

Journals:
 * Utopian Studies (founded 1987)

Conferences:
 * Society for Utopian Studies, annual
 * Utopian Studies Society, annual

Awards:
 * The Lyman Tower Sargent Distinguished Scholar Award, made by the Society for Utopian Studies.