ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. Utopia is not a destination, it is an orientation. Utopia is a way to approach the all too human being-in-the-world. It is a journey to that which is not-yet, a commitment to the possible even when only the probable or even impossible might seem overwhelming. Utopia is an ambition which puts question marks against the everyday inevitability of this world and, moreover, motivates thought and action praxis aimed at transforming what is through the lever of what could be. Globalization has not turned out to be the universal panacea for everything some of its enthusiasts proclaimed, and neither has the free market delivered all its protagonists claimed it would. The collection represents a timely and sustained attempt to make social theory relevant through explorations of its resources and possibilities for utopian imaginations.
