The city of Amuarot serves as the capital city sitting at the top of a tidal river near the center of the island so that many may access it. From each city, a magistrate is chosen to represent them and among these magistrates a higher magistrate is chosen to represent this secondary group. Utopians enjoy a democratic government and vote in a prince to serve for life as long as he does not commit treason or any unforgiveable sin. Thomas More’s Utopia attempts to do away with class systems through equality and seemingly achieves this goal. However, a class system can be seen immediately upon inspection when scholars are being given privileges to take up extra study while their peers toil under the sun. These scholars eventually become the ruling authoritative figures in this society. The government in Utopia heavily institutes and controls absolutely every way of life from a Utopian’s birth to death. The Utopians knowingly sacrifice their freedom for the good of the commonwealth. From how they can marry to where they live to what job they are to pursue. The magistrates that are voted upon come from a scholarly class that is more or less bred into formation therefore creating a self-perpetuating class of elites. The normal citizen does not have the freedom to become an elected official unless …show more content…
Whether each society is perfect depends on every person’s respective views and goals in life. Kallipolis formed a zombie state with each person bent to the will of a philosopher king. The Utopian socialist state would be perfect in a world where every man truly shares the same dream of equality and the ability to feed one’s self is inherent. I believe that the founding father’s vision of the American society may not produce a perfect society but it does assure a society that gives a perfect opportunity for all to enjoy life as it should be,
In the novel Anthem by Ayn Rand explains that the way societies have their rules set up are only to make their society the way they want it. Anthem takes place in a society that is in the future where no one has their own rights. In this society there lives a very powerful man, Equality 7-2521 that wants to make a difference in the society. He starts out as a Street Sweeper chosen by on of the Council men but later on discovers something new. In Anthem they never speak of the unmentionable times.
Each individual has a different perspective of what a perfect society is. Throughout the course of history there have been instances where an individual takes on the task of creating a perfect society to suite their opinions and perspectives. The attempt to create perfect societies are known as utopian experiments. The goal of a utopia is to employ peace and perfection through dominance, restriction, and loss of freedoms of a community. A strong disciplined leader is needed to maintain their ideas of a perfect society, to instill a sense of fear, restrict information, and violate freedoms which forms a controlling authority over the community.
Individuals are the building blocks of society, but they can’t dictate the way society flows. In the short stories “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson and “Harrison Bergeron,” by Kurt Vonnegut, and the theories of enlightenment philosophers, individuals can not change society. Tessie Hutchinson from “The Lottery,” tried to persuade her village that the tradition was wrong, but she faced death. While, Harrison from “Harrison Bergeron,” tried to overthrow society's ideas, through atrocious actions. The philosophers believed that the governors of society should be responsive and secure rights for the people.
Not a Utopia Throughout its existence America has been called a country of Equality, Liberty, Rights for All, Democracy and of course Opportunity. In our infancy people of all origins flocked to America in hopes of obtaining these ideals. Even today many still hope to relocate in order to have their chance at a slice of the American dream. But is this image of America projected largely by our own citizens but also many others around the globe at all accurate or just blind patriotism and admiration? Thomas Paine believed America to be a utopia of sorts; a place of “cordial unison” where the “poor are not oppressed,” and there are no “riots and tumults”.
Thomas More had an abundance of revolutionary ideas for his time, many of which he penned down in his famous work Utopia. More’s greatest focus in this short book is placed on exploring the possibilities and benefits of a new kind of government. His views on such things as freedom, community, and the innate nature of man were all considered when creating what More views as the epitome of a successful government. It is baffling to realize that, using these same principles of freedom, community, and the innate nature of man, another author could come to a conclusion in direct opposition with More’s outcome.
“If the Council said "Carpenter" or "Cook," the Students so assigned go to work and do not study any further. But if the Council has said "Leader," then those students go into the Home of the Leaders… And there they study for many years, so that they may become candidates and be elected to the City Council and the State Council and the World Council” (25). Since this select power allows the government alone to determine the profession of the Students, it grants them the ability to designate leaders and workers from the idea that those chosen would insist on preserving their current way of life. This power, combined with the ability to control every aspect of daily life, suppresses rebellion, in most cases, before it
To what extent can a perfect society be possible? In the novel The Giver the society was established to be a utopian world but, ended up becoming not so perfect after all with terrible things hiding underneath the surface. Modern day society is far from perfect; however, it does have some similarities with Jonas´ home along with many differences. In today's society we pride ourselves on having the freedom to choose our own lifestyle.
In Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville provides an analysis and critique of American civic life. During his travels across the country, he discovered how different America was from Europe, particularly France. While the majority of Europe consisted of aristocratic countries with hundreds of years of history, America was a young democratic country. Most notably, he observed that America was growing in equality. The growing equality becomes a presupposition of individualism and isolation, but despite this inevitable growth of equality, individualism and isolation can be minimized.
The ideas surrounding utopian and dystopian societies are popular now because our society is getting very advanced in technology and futuristic ideas. They’re showing us possible outcomes of what our world could look like in 20, 50, or even 100 years from now. They also show us the positivity and negativity that can come from the future. Some ideas may seem unrealistic now, but life is a rollercoaster, and you never know what could happen next. For example, in the short story, it portrays a society in which everything and everyone is set equal.
For an utopian society to exist, there needs to be a merging of conformity and individualism in the society. Pure individualism or pure conformity in a society leads to a lopsided and corrupted society; they need to exist in synchrony. In Merry Mount, the people follow an ideology of complete freedom of thought and of individualism. The Puritan’s society shows what happens when everyone conforms and no one expresses their individual beliefs. When the ideologies of conformity and individualism merge it combines into a greater society as a whole, better than either of the individual half’s.
During the ancient era in Han dynasty government officials were not elected based on wealth but based on if the individual was capable of becoming an official. The emperor conducted civil service exams that were taken by majority of men mostly aristocrats. This was due to the influence Confucianism had towards Han dynasty. Likewise, in the Athens society magistrates were not elected due to their wealth but by the common man. Magistrates served for a year which made it possible for the government to open up government to other citizens.
He justifies the need for democracy, aristocracy and monarchy depending on location. The three philosophers use their judgment and prior knowledge on each other’s work to validate an ideal society, especially for the uprising continent of America. Governments are an established institution in every society. Though there are multiple types of governments, their purpose is fundamental to determining the influence on a civilization.
1984 by George Orwell makes several statements about control, security, and how governments should treat their citizens. However, a reader can also look at chapters 1-7 of the book as a statement on social classes and how the government keeps everyone in a certain social class. What values does the work reinforce? The book is mainly about control of the government.
The myth of meritocracy does nothing to help the working class, while justifying the privileges of the higher classes, giving the perception that these classes excel through fairness and open methods. The myth of meritocracy is a way of making the working class accepts their role in society. (Kennedy and Power, 2010) The idea of that meritocracy exists is given to students through the hidden curriculum. This results in the working class accepting inequality, thus making it less likely to try to overthrow capitalism.
Who has never dreamt about a society where everything would be perfect? A place where everyone would have what they want. While for some it would be about being rich, having a mutant society like X-men, others would ask for justice, freedom and equality. All of them are acceptable; it is your point of view of a perfect society. This type of society is known as Utopia (which, according to Merrian-Webster is “an imaginary place in which the government, laws, and social conditions are perfect”).