ABSTRACT

This book, originally published in 1923, embodies two related and yet distinct types of sociological endeavour. It is a study in the history of social thought, a field which had only been receiving serious and widespread attention in recent years, and attempts to give an historical cross-section of representative Utopian thought at the time. But it is also a study in social idealism, a study in the origin, selection and potency of those social ideas and ideals that occasional and usually exceptional men conceive, with particular emphasis upon their relation to social progress. It was the first book that attempted to give an unprejudiced, systematic treatment of the social Utopias as a whole.

chapter Chapter I|3 pages

Introduction

part One|250 pages

Social Utopias: An Historical Review

chapter Chapter II|92 pages

The Ethico-Religious Utopians and their Utopianism

chapter Chapter III|22 pages

The “Republic” of Plato

chapter Chapter IV|60 pages

The Early Modern Utopias

chapter Chapter V|44 pages

The Utopian Socialists

chapter Chapter VI|30 pages

The Recent Social Anticipations—The Pseudo-Utopias

part Two|60 pages

Social Utopias: An Analysis and Critique

chapter Chapter VII|11 pages

The Utopians and their Utopias

chapter Chapter VIII|11 pages

Utopianism and the Rôle of Ideas and Ideals

chapter Chapter IX|22 pages

The Utopianistic Contribution to Civilization

chapter Chapter X|14 pages

The Limited Perspective of the Utopians