Utopianism for a dying planet : life after consumerism / Gregory Claeys.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Claeys, Gregory, author.

Series:

Princeton scholarship online.

Princeton scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Utopias.

Utopian socialism.

Environmentalism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (608 p.)

Place of Publication:

Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2023]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

In the face of Earth's environmental breakdown, it is clear that technological innovation alone won't save our planet. A more radical approach is required, one that involves profound changes in individual and collective behaviour. 'Utopianism for a Dying Planet' examines the ways the expansive history of utopian thought, from its origins in ancient Sparta and ideas of the Golden Age through to today's thinkers, can offer moral and imaginative guidance in the face of catastrophe. The utopian tradition, which has been critical of conspicuous consumption and luxurious indulgence, might light a path to a society that emphasizes equality, sociability, and sustainability.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgements

Part I Towards a Theory of Utopian Sociability

1 Redefining Utopianism for a Post- consumer society

2 The Mythical Background: remembering original equality

3 Theories of Realised Utopianism

Part II Utopian Sociability in Fiction and Practice

4 The Varieties of Utopian Practice

5 Luxury, Sociability, and Progress in Literary Projections of Utopia: from Thomas more to the eighteenth century

6 The Triumph of Unsocial Sociability? luxury in the eighteenth century

Part III Luxury and Sociability in Later Eighteenth-and Nineteenth-Century Utopianism

7 The Later Eighteenth Century and the French Revolution

8 Simplicity and Sociability in Nineteenth-Century Utopianism

Part IV Modern Consumerism and Its Opponents

9 Twentieth-Century Consumerism and the Utopian Response

10 Counterculture and Consumerism: The 1960s

11 Life after Consumerism: Utopianism in the age of sufficiency

Conclusion: The Great Change: creating enhanced simplicity

Afterword: Covid-19 and Sociability

Bibliography of Works Cited

Index

A NOTE ON THE TYPE

Notes:

Previously issued in print: 2022.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (viewed on June 6, 2023).

ISBN:

9780691236698

0691236690

OCLC:

1336404046