Everyday Utopia: What 2,000 Years of Wild Experiments Can Teach Us About the Good Life
added by Keely Adler and · updated 14h ago
added by Keely Adler and · updated 14h ago
Conjuring up new technologies, products, or marketing slogans to increase profits distinguishes the entrepreneurial mastermind from the mere corporate flunky. We accept that this is a good approach for solving economic issues and scientific problems. Yet at the same time, dreaming of different ways of organizing our lives is dangerous and discourag
... See moreKeely Adler added 8mo ago
The German sociologist Karl Mannheim argued that utopia was a necessary antidote to what he considered the normative role of “ideology,” a term he specifically defined as the unseen but omnipresent social, cultural, and philosophical structure that upholds a particular “order of things” and protects those who wield political and economic power.
Keely Adler added 8mo ago
Since political and economic systems accrue and distribute power and wealth among people, those people are essential inputs to those systems.
Keely Adler added 8mo ago
The inclusion of true-life examples highlights that even the most outlandish ideas can have real impacts on the way we shape our private relationships. It is silly to be dismissive of radical social dreams when there are so many people already showing us how to turn these dreams into practical realities.
Keely Adler added 8mo ago
learning about other political and economic systems opened my mind to the possibility that the reality in which I lived was not the only one available.
Keely Adler added 8mo ago
Doubters can mount a stiff resistance, but in every generation from Aristophanes on down, the dreamers persist.
Keely Adler added 8mo ago
resistance to new ways of thinking may be most extreme when it concerns how we structure our private lives.
Keely Adler added 8mo ago
By studying the history of social dreams, we can reject the bad bits and keep the good: challenging ourselves to explore alternatives for how we live,
Keely Adler added 8mo ago
changes in our intimate worlds would help us forge stronger and more harmonious societies.
Keely Adler added 8mo ago