Utopia

Peter-Erwin Jansen and Inka Engel

Chapter 24 in Research Handbook on Critical Theory, 2026, pp 269-276 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter discusses the concept of utopia, which has developed from the first (social) utopian designs of Thomas More and Tommaso Campanella to a modern genre of critical social theory. The chapter focuses on traces of utopian social designs that can be decoded in the works of critical theory of the so-called Frankfurt School around Horkheimer, Adorno, Marcuse, and Löwenthal. Further theoretical aspects of reference for these utopian moments, which are obscured and suppressed by the one-dimensional tendencies of late capitalism, can be found in the works of Ernst Bloch. Reference is also made to this. The search for utopian traces in these theoretical concepts could provide insightful clues as to how a radical critique of the dominant claims to power and authority of existing repressive systems can be reframed. Uncovering them and rethinking them as counter-concepts could lead to what Herbert Marcuse once formulated as the promise that things can be different.

Keywords: Utopia; Enlightenment; Dialectics; One-Dimensionality; Anticipation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781800373754
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