Characteristics   Utopias  Dystopias Herland
CAUSALITY--  how did or will this society come about?
        a) act of God or accident of nature beyond human control
        b) human reason or a change in human nature
        c) social revolution (violent)
        d) scientific, chemical, technological inventions
  • No real cause, just happens
  • "triumph of reason"/ change in human nature
  • sometimes "nature: takes over
  • no revolution
  • Lethargy or tyranny
COSMOLOGY--where is this society located in time and space? a) in history and real world or out of history in fantasy world
b) retrospective or prospective
c) on earth or elsewhere
  •  out of history in fantasy world 
  • (Spatial removal)
  • tends to evoke the past
  • tends to be a small, isolated area
  • in history and real world
  • temporal removal
  • tends to be set in future
MAINTENANCE--  how is social stability insured? a) how stable is this society?
b) maintained through a natural, undirected process?
c) maintained through social engineering?
d) maintained through other artifical means?
e) does it have to be defended from outside, and how?
  • Society very stable
  • Stabaility is "natural"
  • Social engineering seen as benign
  • generally lack of diversity
  • society not vey stable
  • social engineering seen as limiting
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS--what is society's relation to nature? a) rural or urban/ garden or city
b) fruitful or desolate
c) size and scope (isolated or whole world)
d) climate and seasons (presence of nature)
  • Natural is fairly strictly controlled
  • Megalopolis is a jewel
  • tends to pastoral
  • nature runs riot or has been totally destroyed
  • tends to urban
SOCIAL ORGANIZATION--  how do people relate to one another? a) class structure
b) structure of authority and government
c) decision-making process
d) crime  
  • Class stratification rigid, but based on "natural" differences
  • Authority tends to be in hands of rulers, who are beneficent and wise
  • Legal sustem: rigidly uniform
  • Class stratification rigid, and arbitrary
  • Authority often ruling elite
ECONOMIC ORGANIZATION--  how are goods and services produced and exchanged? a) how much competition and how regulated
b) attitude towards work 1) what kind of hierarchies in value of work
2) how is work assigned
3) what is purpose of work (product or process) c) attitudes towards arts and crafts
d) what kinds of products most typical and in demand
  • Private property usually condemned; everyone shares
  • Private property often unavailable; elite only has access
ATTITUDE TOWARDS SCIENCE--  what is the balance, between research, technology, and nature? a) how much technology
b) what is balance/relationship between technology and nature
c) how initiatory, free, productive, pure is science
  • Science often quite controlled.  Effective but lack of invention
  • Sciene used for  repression
  • Sciene not avialable to ordinary person
  • Tech running down; science forgotten
  • Machines are enemy

 
   ROLE OF THE INDIVIDUAL


GENDER ROLES AND RELATIONSHIPS--  how strongly differentiated are the two sexes a) are basic sex differences assumed (mental, emotional)
b) how strong are societal sex-roles
                1) work
                2) personality characteristics and self-image
                3) emotional orientations
       c) marriage
                1) does it exist
                2) monagomous/ permanent
                3) plural
                4) temporary
  • Sex diffs seen as natural, so no variation allowed
  • Sex equality often imposed
FAMILY LIFE--   how are children raised a) how strong is biolgical nuclear family
b) what is attitude towards illegitimacy
c) how are children named
d) who is responsible for child care and rearing
e) how are children educated and by whom
f) how high is the birth rate
g) how much are children romanticized
h) what kinds of initiation rites
  • Family often abolished for benevolent state care
  • Families torn apart/abolished 
EPISTEMOLOGY--  what is assumed nature of wo/man and how does s/he orient to reality a) how efficient and central is reason
b) how important are intuition and empathy
c) which emotions are primary
d) degree of split<integration 1) objective/ subjective
2) reason/ emotion
3) good/evil
  • Reason usually central; emotions seen as abberant and kept under control
  • Thoguht control, particularly through language
METAPHYSICS --  what are the central symbols and myths of society a) is there a god; how envisioned
b) what are major myths, legends, folktales
c) what are presiding metaphors in text 1 ) spatial            2) processes