Real Utopias Research Articles

Real utopias, reciprocity and concern for others

The article explores the early Marx’s vision of communal relationships, which is centered on the idea that in producing for others individuals can be concerned with satisfying the needs of others, and may reciprocally value their interdependence in producing for one another. It is argued that if the ideal of communal reciprocity is to be realized in a viable and desirable form, it must be compatible with some forms of self-interest, social indifference and instrumental action, typically realized through the institution of the market. The article shows that communal reciprocity may go together with market reciprocity as long as market relations are structured such that exploitative motives are not systematically promoted. The article examines various economic institutions that could meet the non-exploitation requirement, either by transforming the constitutive rules of the market, in contrast to its regulative rules, or by regulating the market internally, in contrast to its external regulation.

The Second Part of the Ideal Theory of John Rawls in The Law of Peoples Transplanted and Revisited

John Rawls in the second part of his Ideal Theory as it is developed in the Law of the Peoples, argues that both liberal and non-liberal but decent people can still be considered to be people in good standing in a reasonable society of people and proposes the toleration of non-liberal but decent societies by the liberal ones. Within this framework, the current proposal will focus on the relationship between the ‘West’ and the Russian Federation as it has evolved after the collapse of the Soviet regime through recent developments on human rights protection and the regulation of the use of force or the “law of peace” as Rawls claims. The aim of this endeavor is twofold. First, to provide a critical assessment of liberal theories such as cosmopolitan constitutionalism, which promote a particular liberal understanding of global governance based on common values and universal goals. Second, to examine the potential but also limits of the Rawlsian theory of toleration towards the development of a more pluralistic normative analysis of the global order which will be neither utopian nor apologetic but one that will contribute into the realization of a “realistic utopia” between pure liberal and non-pure liberal states.

Black hole capitalism

The planetary urbanization of capital entails the collapse of all traditional morphological distinctions into a seething morass of implosion–explosion that recalls the creative–destructive fury of a black hole. As an invisible presence–absence only identifiable by its spatiotemporal effects, the black hole resembles both the Lacanian Real and Marx’s value-theoretical understanding of capital. Utopian fantasies of postmodern hyperspace and rational spatial order function to fill in the void of the Real of Capital, but are ultimately undermined by the chaotic forces that they conceal. At the event horizon of black hole capitalism, where the crushing agglomeration of capital threatens to obliterate all social life, the seemingly impossible construction of Real utopias becomes an urgent necessity. The dynamics of this process are illustrated by the case of the Manta–Manaus multimodal transport corridor, which reveals the possibilities, limitations and antagonisms of utopian urban projects under conditions of black hole capitalism.

Alternative visions of a new global order: what should cosmopolitans hope for?

In this essay, I analyze the cosmopolitan project for a new international order that Habermas has articulated in recent publications. I argue that his presentation of the project oscillates between two models. The first is a very ambitious model for a future international order geared to fulfill the peace and human rights goals of the UN Charter. The second is a minimalist model, in which the obligation to protect human rights by the international community is circumscribed to the negative duty of preventing wars of aggression and massive human rights violations due to armed conflicts such as ethnic cleansing or genocide. According to this model, any more ambitious goals should be left to a global domestic politics, which would have to come about through negotiated compromises among domesticated major powers at the transnational level. I defend the ambitious model by arguing that there is no basis for drawing a normatively significant distinction between massive human rights violations due to armed conflicts and those due to regulations of the global economic order. I conclude that the cosmopolitan goals of the Habermasian project can only be achieved if the principles of transnational justice recognized by the international community are ambitious enough to cover economic justice. Keywords: cosmopolitanism; distributive justice; global justice; global poverty; habermas; human rights; negative duties; realistic utopias Citation: Ethics & Global Politics 2008. DOI: 10.3402/egp.v1i1.1813

Before Prison, Instead of Prison, Better Than Prison: Therapeutic Communities as an Abolitionist Real Utopia?

The aim of this paper is to critically engage with the idea that Therapeutic Communities (TCs) can be promoted in England and Wales as a radical alternative to prison for substance users who have broken the law. After grounding the discussion within the normative framework of an ‘abolitionist real utopia’ (Scott 2013), the article explores the historical and theoretical underpinnings of TCs. Existing literature advocating TCs as a radical alternative both before and instead of prison is then reviewed, followed by a critical reflection of the TCs compatibility with the broader values and principles of an abolitionist real utopia. To conclude, the article suggests that, although TCs could be a plausible and historically immanent non-penal real utopia for certain people in certain circumstances, we must not lose focus of wider social inequalities.

Educational Studies and the Domestication of Utopia

ABSTRACTThis paper offers a critique of educational real utopias. Real Utopias are experimental forms of thought and practice intended to harness the transgressive force of traditional utopianism while avoiding its associated dangers. The concept has been embraced by the field of educational studies and applied to the study of various educational settings, institutions and processes. This paper does four things. Firstly, it outlines the concept of utopian realism and highlights those aspects that are said to differentiate it from the utopia that supposedly played a role in the human catastrophes of the twentieth century. It then evaluates a selection of educational real utopias to assess whether they can, in fact, be said to have succeeded in the task of harnessing the intellectual force while overcoming the dangers of traditional utopianism. Thirdly, the paper offers a critique of utopian realism, arguing that the concept of utopia has become thoroughly domesticated. Finally, the paper defends the expansive and holistic concept of utopia that utopian realism rejects. The argument here is that only when utopia is understood as a holistic system is it able to produce its most potent pedagogical effects.

PROBING THE LIMITS OF RAWLS’S REALISTIC UTOPIA

Abstract:InThe Law of Peoples, John Rawls introduces a framework for realistic utopia, within which the limits of practicable political possibility are probed through the further development of his international theory. This essay addresses the apparent paradox of realistic utopianism within the context of, and in relation to, ideal theory, in an attempt to explore the scope and limits of Rawls’s theory. The ideas behind Rawls’s realistic utopia are discussed in detail, the concept is contrasted with ideal theory in order to assess to what extent Rawls’s framework for realistic utopia introduced inThe Law of Peoplesdiffers from other forms of ideal theory, and the limits of realistic utopianism are identified.I argue first, that, in an attempt to address the potential feasibility constraint, Rawls tries to distinguish his framework of realistic utopia from that of more traditional ideal theory. I then proceed to examine the differences between realistic utopianism inThe Law of Peoplesand ideal theory inA Theory of Justice. I then conclude that Rawls only partially meets the challenge of establishing practicable political possibility. In actuality, Rawls’s focus on ideal agents in ideal as well as nonideal theory, together with his emphasis on societies as closed and self-sufficient, ignores the potential for noncompliance by liberal and decent societies, as well as interdependencies between societies that can cause or lead to injustice, conflict, and instability. I argue that despite these flaws, Rawls’s approach nevertheless provokes new insights into the function of the principles of the ideal theory framework as guidelines for real-world policies striving toward peace, stability, and justice.

The Crisis of the European Union: A Response

A Crisis of the European Union contains the essay “The Crisis of the European Union in Light of a Constitutionalisation of International Law—An Essay on the Constitution for Europe,” the second essay “The Concept of Human Dignity and the Realistic Utopia of Human Rights,” and an appendix “The Europe of the Federal Republic.” The first essay is itself divided into three sections: “Why Europe is Now More than Ever a Constitutional Project”; “The European Union Must Decide between Transnational Democracy and Post-Democratic Executive Federalism,” and “From the International to the Cosmopolitan Community.” The second of these sections is itself divided between five subsections: “Against a Reification of Popular Sovereignty,” “The First Innovation: The Primacy of Supranational Law Over the National Law of the Monopolists on the Means for a Legitimate Use of Force,” “The Second Innovation: The Sharing of Constituting Power between EU Citizens and European Peoples,” “Shared Sovereignty as the Standard for the Legitimation Requirements of the Union,” and “The Hesitation of the Political Elites at the Threshold to Transnational Democracy.” The Appendix is divided between an interview from the newspaper Die Zeit “After the Bankruptcy,” an essay published in Die Zeit “The Euro Will Decide the Fate of the European Union,” and an essay published in the newspaper Süddeutschen Zeitung “A Pact for or against Europe.” An index is sadly lacking, which is surely a loss to the reader even for a short book of this kind.

The Concept of Realistic Utopia: Ideal Theory as Critique

ConstellationsVolume 24, Issue 1 p. 89-100 Original Article The Concept of Realistic Utopia: Ideal Theory as Critique Marit Böker, Marit BökerSearch for more papers by this author Marit Böker, Marit BökerSearch for more papers by this author First published: 29 October 2015 https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8675.12183Citations: 6Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume24, Issue1March 2017Pages 89-100 RelatedInformation

Teaching “Real Utopias” through Experiential Learning

In this article, we describe a way to encourage students to envision “real utopias” through the Global Village experience at the Heifer Ranch in Arkansas. The Global Village experience introduces participants to issues associated with global hunger, poverty, environmental sustainability, and resource consumption and provides opportunities to experience simulated poverty and resource inequality. Using student journals recorded during the experience and participant observation, we demonstrate how students’ learning is enhanced by temporarily living outside their typical comfort zones and closer to the global averages of consumption. We find that the Global Village experience is an effective and unique tool for engaging students in global and transnational issues and for encouraging students to imagine other possible worlds.

Deconstructing the neoliberal narrative: a story of possibility for democratic work in early childhood education

Transformative Change and Real Utopias in Early Childhood Education is a welcome and necessary reminder that the youngest of children, and their teachers, are essential participants in a healthy de...

‘Rescaling’ alternative food systems: from food security to food sovereignty

In this paper, we critically interrogate the benefits of an interdisciplinary and theoretically diverse dialogue between ‘local food’ and ‘alternative food networks’ (AFNs) and outline how this dialogue might be enriched by a closer engagement with discourses of food sovereignty and the politics of scale. In arguing for a shift towards a greater emphasis on food sovereignty, we contend that contemporary discourses of food security are inadequate for the ongoing task of ensuring a just and sustainable economy of food. Further, rather than treating the local and the global as ontologically given categories around which to contest the politics of food, it is our contention that recognising the socio-spatial aspects of the politics of scale has the potential to reinvigorate discourses of food security, food sovereignty and AFNs. Understanding scale as both fixed to a degree as well as contingent and dynamic has implications for an understanding of the role of food systems, for how the rescaled state privileges certain food systems and the possibilities for resistance through ‘jumping scale’ and food utopias. All of these aspects are significant if we are to fully comprehend and contest the challenges of envisioning and enacting real utopias of food sovereignty.

Local food and civic food networks as a real utopias project

Local food and civic food networks as a real utopias project

“Реальные утопии” в социологической теории Э.О. Райта

This article considers the basic features of E.O. Wright’s “real utopias” concept. This concept is developed to show the alternatives to existing capitalist order in modern societies.

Fifteen Years Later: Reflections on Realism and Utopia in 'The Law of Peoples' by John Rawls

Fifteen years ago, the last important, book-length statement about liberal values and ideals by John appeared, Law of Peoples. It was met with a good deal of surprise and disenchantment by many admirers of the “early Rawls (the of A Theory of Justice). This essay reflects upon The Law of and the grounds of liberal disenchantment with the book. It explores the status of illiberal decent in the law of peoples, and connects this issue with the purposes of Rawls’ theory understood as a “realistic utopia, and argues that the inclusion of illiberal, decent peoples must be seen as a matter of moral choice rather than a concession to Realpolitik. This moral choice is supported by Rawls’ methodology in Law of Peoples, and in particular, the deliberately emaciated social contract, original position and reflective equilibrium. The key answers to the puzzles raised by these revisions of Rawls’ original liberal theory s are to be found, it is claimed, in the role assigned to the ideal of toleration in Law of Peoples. However, the use of this ideal is ill-advised as no link is demonstrated, or even asserted, between toleration and the individuals who belong to the peoples who are to be tolerated.

Visioning a Sustainable Energy Future: The Case of Urban Food-Growing

This article outlines a future where society re-energizes itself, in the sense both of recapturing creative dynamism and of applying creativity to meeting physical energy needs. Both require us to embrace self-organizing properties, whether in nature or society. The author critically appraises backcasting as a methodology for visioning, arguing that backcasting’s potential for radical, outside-the-box thinking is restricted unless it contemplates a break with class society, connects with existing grassroots struggles (notably over land) and dialogues with the utopian socialist tradition. The article develops a case study of food, starting from the physical parameters of combating the entropy expressed in the loss of soil structure, and applies this to urban food-growing. Drawing upon ‘real utopias’ of existing practice, the author proposes a threefold categorization – subsistence plots, an urban forest, and an ultra-high productivity sector – and emphasizes the emergent properties of such a complex system characterized by the ‘free energy’ of societal self-organization.

Mixed Methods Research With Groups at Risk

The potential of social transformation embedded in mixed methods research is one of the longstanding and ongoing debates within the specialized literature (Hesse-Biber, 2010; Mertens, 2011). Manifold reflections have been provided in this regard, each of them shedding light on different perspectives, with arguments ranging from a strong support for this role for mixed methods research and others arguing against this position (Mertens & Hesse Biber 2012; Sandelowski, 2014). The transformative paradigm serves as one philosophical framework that supports the use of mixed methods research to address social justice issues, particularly considering the need to give voice to underprivileged populations (Mertens, 2009, 2014). The communicative paradigm also considers the importance of creating useful scientific knowledge by establishing an intersubjective dialogue with the researched groups (Gomez, Puigvert, & Flecha, 2011; Puigvert, 2012). Denzin (2012) argues that mixed methods research can promote a dialogic democracy as a way toward shaping real utopias. Postcolonial or indigenous researchers have also shed light on different aspects to counter the existing power relations with postcolonial societies (Chilisa, 2011; Smith, 1999). Social science researchers encounter stimulation to give greater consideration to addressing issues of social justice from a variety of sources. In a context of scarcity of resources, citizenry is demanding more public discussion and accountability in the decision-making processes about how to allocate public resources. In this context, European funding for social science research was questioned because of its dubious returns to society. While research in other sciences were clearly supporting the improvement of citizens’ lives, this was not that clear in the case of social sciences. The program Horizon 2020 defined research priorities in Europe for the next decade; however, in its initial proposal, social sciences were not included. The scientific community mobilized and submitted an open letter signed by thousands of researchers and major stakeholders to the Commissioner (see the open letter at http://www.eash.eu/openletter2011/) stating that in order to tackle large-scale transitions European societies are undergoing, there is a need to include social science research as part of the solution. Citizens and societies need to see in which ways social science research is contributing to improve their lives and communities. The usefulness claim also comes from the most at risk groups of society as the research community is asked to contribute to reduce inequalities and provide effective solutions for

Poverty, grants, revolution and ‘real Utopias’: society must be defended by any and all means necessary!

The South African social security system is globally lauded for pioneering new conceptions of society and social assistance, and is celebrated as offering the world an alternative to mainstream social policy. What then accounts for better outcomes in poverty and inequality reduction in countries with similar social security systems? The paper locates the ‘diminishing progressivity’ of the South African system in the interlocking dynamics of structural violence, structural exclusion, racialised nationalism, financialisation and the subversion of democracy. The massive rebellion in the streets against the rule of rich and property is a reflection of the poor losing hope and patience.

Who’s afraid of a world state? A global sovereign and the statist-cosmopolitan debate

Wary of quick statist dismissal of their proposals, cosmopolitans have been careful not to associate themselves with a world state. I argue that this caution is mistaken: cosmopolitans should see the vision of a world state as strategically valuable in exposing weaknesses in statist accounts, particularly of the Rawlsian variety. This strategic value follows if the only cogent arguments against a world state belong to non-ideal theory which assumes non-compliance, rather than to ideal theory with its core assumption of full compliance. If our only convincing reasons to reject a world state are non-ideal, then any liberal theory revolving around separate states must itself be considered a non-ideal theory. As a non-ideal theory, a statist law of peoples cannot be presented as an end-state, but is rather a transitional stage. Yet once seen as a transitional theory, the statist “realistic utopia” can no longer dodge the cosmopolitan charge that it is neither sufficiently realistic nor sufficiently utopian.

Transforming Capitalism through Real Utopias

This paper 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 institutions and social structures in the right way has the potential to substantially reduce human suffering and expand the possibilities for human flourishing. An emancipatory social science responding to these propositions faces four broad tasks: specifying the moral principles for judging social institutions; using these moral principles as the standards for diagnosis and critique of existing institutions; developing an account of viable alternatives in response to the critique; and proposing a theory of transformation for realizing those alternatives. The idea of “real utopias” is one way of thinking about alternatives and transformation.