The novels of contemporary French author Michel Houellebecq are notorious for their critique of late capitalist society, offering a vitriolic portrayal of humanity that at times borders on the pornographic, the racist and the nihilistic. However, beyond the depiction of Western decline, one of the driving themes of Houellebecq’s writing is the question of how to imagine a way out of our current bind. This paper investigates the subjectivity of utopian desire in Houellebecq’s 1998 novel Les Particules élémentaires. Focusing on (...) the representation of a futuristic neo-human species in the prologue and the epilogue of the novel, it examines how Houellebecq’s writing uses the portrayal of scientific progress to highlight the ethical dilemmas of our social world and, moreover, of our own utopian imagination. (shrink)

A recurrent misconception about the concept of utopia fails to realize fully that its essential endeavor constitutes a speculative act involving the distribution of power and resources. Consequently, utopian desire is closely linked to structures of power and can be manipulated by interests in positions of influence within these structures. It is these connections to the machinations of power that bring utopian visions their potential for social/political influence. However, these same types of links also provide avenues for these conceptions to (...) be cynically influenced in ways that can usurp individual autonomy. The role of power and utopia can be analyzed in the formative process of a specific social structure as well as in their contribution to the conception of a common heritage or history. The " historical perspective" often serves as the foundation for the production of propaganda seeking to capture the imagination of a populace either to instigate positive social change or to legitimize an oppressive regime. Through the lens of Collingwood's philosophy of history, this article investigates the connection that the " historical consciousness" has to the attributes of power and utopia as well as the role that this relationship plays in the formation of a collective mentality. In short, it studies the essential characteristics of the bond between individuals that allows a community or collective to perpetuate itself. It also explores how the attributes of power and utopia can use latent historical perceptions to strengthen the process of ideological integration that underlies any social action or formal structure of authority. (shrink)

Opposition to utopianism on ontological and political grounds has seemingly relegated it to a potentially dangerous form of antiquated idealism. This conclusion is based on a restrictive view of utopia as excessively ordered panoptic discursive constructions. This overlooks the fact that, from its inception, movement has been central to the utopian tradition. The power of utopianism indeed resides in its ability to instantiate the tension between movement and place that has marked social transformations in the modern era. This tension continues (...) in contemporary discussions of movement-based social processes, particularly international migration and related identity formations, such as open borders transnationalism and cosmopolitanism. Understood as such, utopia remains an ongoing and powerful, albeit problematic instrument of social and political imagination. (shrink)

Nine introductory theses about dystopia Resumen: Este artículo proporciona una introducción actualizada a la distopía y una exégesis del apogeo ilimitado que esta vive. Y lo hace planteando nueve tesis. El supuesto de partida es que el término “distopía” no designa solamente una forma literaria. Sus premisas, metodologías y actitudes elementales son visibles en el pensamiento social contemporáneo y otras muchas expresiones culturales. En las dos primeras tesis diferencio el género distópico de otros géneros afines y sondeo las coincidencias temáticas (...) que atesoran sus expresiones literarias y filosóficas. A lo largo de las tres tesis posteriores, señalo las causas sociales e ideológicas que subyacen a su hegemonía actual. Finalmente, dedico las cuatro últimas tesis a calibrar las implicaciones políticas de la distopía y a determinar las relaciones que guarda con la utopía.: This article provides an up-to-date introduction to dystopia and an exege- sis of its huge heyday, in nine theses. The starting point is that the term “dystopia” does not designate only a literary form. Its basic premises, methodologies and attitudes are visible in contemporary social thought and many other cultural expres- sions. In the first two theses, I distinguish the dystopian genre from other related genres and probe the thematic coincidences among their literary and philosophical expressions. Throughout the three subsequent theses, I point out the social and ideological causes that underlie its current hegemony. Finally, I devote the last four theses to calibrating the political implications of dystopia and to determining its relationship with utopia. Palabras clave: distopía, utopía, antiutopía, progreso, imaginación. Keywords: dystopia, utopia, anti-utopia, progress, imagination. (shrink)

In this article, I argue for an historical understanding of the relationship between ideology and utopia/utopianism that positions the latter as a specifically modern compensation for the loss of the cosmologically grounded, unitary ideology supplied by the late medieval Christian Church. This claim relies upon but revises Fredric Jameson’s early theorization of the collaboration between ideology and utopia/utopianism, which emphasizes that utopian elements allow ideology to offer subjects a ‘compensatory exchange’ for their complicity. Developing my central argument requires considering the (...) current viability of the ‘secularization thesis’, which classically associated modernization with secularization but which has undergone heavy criticism and revision by social scientists over the past half-century. These theoretical discussions, finally, are couched within a critical appraisal of the status of utopianism in contemporary politics. (shrink)