 Nowhere: MorrisDavid Reisman Chapter 11 in Economy and Utopia, 2026, pp 173-192 from Edward Elgar Publishing Abstract: William Morris, artist, agitator and author, depicted in his News from Nowhere a post-revolutionary utopia that had done away with money, markets, prices, competition and class. In place of private property the means of production were to be owned collectively. In place of the division of labour and the mental mutilation that overspecialisation occasions, it had introduced a flexible productive order based on occupational rotation, job satisfaction and the mechanisation of exhausting toil. Each worker has become in some measure an artist. Each artist had become a visionary and persuader who sees clearly the need for fellowship, sociability and solidarity to be put before soulless supply and demand. Morris is a quintessentially English author, imbued with English values such as compromise and tolerance. Since he never describes his utopia as a total system, his anecdotes and individual illustrations cannot be taken as his last word on an evolving way of life. There may also be room for a state to coordinate the assets and provide social infrastructure provided that its administration confines itself to things and does not infringe on personal autonomy. Keywords: Market Economics; Job Satisfaction; Art; Fellowship; Social Values (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:24894_11 Ordering information: This item can be ordered from Access Statistics for this chapter More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing |
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