ABSTRACT
Utopianism never disappears completely, and this is precisely why post-utopianism must always keep the material violence and popular rhetoric of anti-utopianism on permanent standby. This chapter provides a critical survey of particular forms of utopianism that persist in spite or perhaps because of the post-utopian claim that people inhabit the end of history. It draws on popular culture and debates from within struggle as much as academic discourse, as these are key terrains for the production and mediation of approaches to the utopian. Many forms of utopianism are problematic and downright abysmal. Radical proposals for a utopian (post-)welfarism have recently emerged around demands for universal basic income (UBI). There are, of course, utopianisms that do not operate on the terrain of the future, focusing instead on alternatives within the present. Often, these are to be found in celebrations of the local, the small-scale and the authentic, creating a 'sense of place' to contrast with contemporary dystopianism's apparent placelessness.
