# Robert Owen — The Story of Utopias character guide

> Robert Owen in The Story of Utopias by Lewis Mumford.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Owen

**First appearance:** 0003-the-story-of-utopias

## Who they are

Welsh mill-owner turned reformer who tried to build the good society in factories and villages rather than in books.

## In the story

### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/vii)

Owen's common halls are mentioned as a later parallel to Utopian communal dining, though with a different atmosphere.

### [The Eighteenth Century: Industrialism and the Birth of Modern Utopias](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/vi)

Owen's cooperative communities are presented as a utopian solution to industrial-era problems.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/ii)

Referenced for his 'Essay on the Formation of Character' which depicts the brutal conditions in a model factory during the early industrial age.

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/v)

Mentioned as a noble figure with good intentions and organizing ability, but his projects are more like poor colonies than productive human societies; his essays on love and marriage are praised.

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/vi)

Mentioned as a parallel figure who also had practical industrial and commercial experience.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/i)

Inspired Cabet's colonization attempt in Missouri.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/ii)

Owen's utopian socialism is described as partly fulfilled in the cooperative movement but ultimately ineffective.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/iii)

Critiqued as a living example of the need for personal discipline; his bumptiousness and arrogance frustrated his own good ideas.

### [Bibliography](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/bibliography)

Given short shrift but noted as an interesting and significant figure.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/characters/robert_owen
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/characters