Community and Social Harmony

Where it surfaces

• How the Greeks lived in a New World, and utopia seemed just round the corner. How Plato, in The Republic, is chiefly concerned with what will hold the ideal city together.

  Plato's primary concern in the Republic is identifying the principles that ensure the unity and stability of the ideal city-state.

• I

  Hippodamus is noted for addressing the social order alongside physical planning, reflecting the utopian concern for harmonious community life.

• III

  Plato's commonwealth is depicted as a place where citizens actively share common gods, theaters, gymnasia, and interests, fostering social cohesion through physical proximity and collaboration.

• V

  The chapter emphasizes that community is built from the interaction of people, work, and place, highlighting the importance of social organization in utopian visions.

• Plato's Republic: The Foundation of Civic Unity

  Plato's primary concern is creating conditions for a community to hold together without external force, emphasizing shared institutions and ways of life.

• VII

  Plato's model of the state as a healthy body where each part performs its function for the whole, achieving justice and happiness through harmonious adjustment.

• IX

  Central to Plato's design, as the Guardians must prioritize the common good over private interests to maintain the stability of the state.

• The Business of the Guardian

  The state is described as a 'living unity' with organic health, achieved through education and selection.

• XII

  The chapter emphasizes living in just relations to the whole community, with no private privilege, allowing each person to grow fully.

• III

  The chapter advocates for a society without private property, where justice and happiness are possible for all, echoing Plato's beloved community.

• IV

  The fifty-four cities and their surrounding lands are organized to promote cooperation and mutual defense, reflecting a harmonious social order.

• V

  The rotation of workers, shared agricultural labor, and the magistrates' oversight to prevent idleness illustrate a society organized for collective well-being.

• VI

  The whole island is described as one family, with goods distributed freely and regional surpluses shared to ensure everyone's needs are met.

• VII

  The communal meals, shared gardens, and cooperative living arrangements in Amaurot exemplify a society built on social harmony and mutual support.

• VIII

  Utopia's government is based on the family and a system of magistrates, aiming for common interest through industrial and political democracy.

• IX

  Virtue is defined partly by helping others and preferring public good over private concerns, emphasizing social bonds and mutual support.

• How the new Humanism of the Renaissance brings us within sight of Christianopolis; and how we have for the first time a glimpse of a modern utopia.

  Andreae's vision emphasizes a harmonious community where faith, knowledge, and labor are integrated for the common good.

• II

  Christianopolis is built for religious faith and peace, with a unified layout and shared public spaces fostering communal life.

• III

  The autonomous, self-regulating worker groups in Christianopolis embody a harmonious guild-based community.

• The Artisan Democracy of Christianopolis

  Christianopolis functions as a single workshop where all citizens share duties and resources, fostering unity and collective purpose.

• The Place of Commerce in Utopia

  Commerce is organized for the common good, eliminating individual gain and reinforcing social cohesion through shared resources.

• The Constitution of the Family in Christianopolis

  The family in Christianopolis is integrated into the city's communal ownership of housing and tools, promoting equality and shared labor.

• VII

  The communal child-rearing and shared responsibility for education reflect a harmonious social order.

• VIII

  The polity of Christianopolis emphasizes cooperation among religion, justice, and learning, aiming for social harmony through integrated governance.

• III

  The phalanx is built on harmonious association, with common institutions and the goal of passional harmony.

• VI

  The model town association and common facilities (laundries, kitchens, refectories) reflect an attempt to create a harmonious, cooperative community.

• II

  The parish system in Spensonia fosters local cooperation, with inhabitants voting on improvements and sharing profits equally.

• A Visit to Freeland

  Freeland's laws emphasize equal access to land and production, democratic governance, and support for all members, reflecting communal harmony.

• Bellamy's Industrial Army

  The chapter examines Bellamy's attempt to create social harmony through universal industrial service and equal pay, but highlights the potential for conformity and suppression of dissent.

• I

  Hudson's return to More's farmstead and family unit emphasizes community as the foundation of social life.

• The Crystal Age: A Beehive Utopia

  The household is the social unit, with shared work, meals, and traditions, and a housemother who ensures harmony by suppressing individual passion.

• IV

  The utopia is built on free exchange, common halls, and local decision-making, with no political government; even murder is handled by leaving the guilty to remorse.

• V

  Envisions a society built on 'kindliness and spontaneous cooperation' extended from holidays into everyday work.

• VI

  The chapter describes a world-community with a single civilization, common rules, and cooperative enterprises, emphasizing social harmony on a planetary scale.

• VII

  The utopia features well-cultivated fields, adequate inns, and a lack of obstreperous patriotisms, suggesting social harmony.

• III

  The Abbey's design fosters a harmonious community where members follow their own will, yet live together in splendor and mutual respect.

• The Country House and Its Idolum

  The Country House is shown to create a split between the elite and the community, undermining social harmony and shared culture.

• IX

  Uses Aristotle's concept of the good life to assert that industrialism must be limited to preserve community and humane living.

• XI

  Contrasts the natural human groupings (cities, towns, villages) with the imposed national unity, arguing that organic communities predate and are more fundamental than the state.

• XIV

  Contrasts the temporal community (local, multiform) with the spiritual community (universal), arguing that nationalism confuses and damages both.

• II

  Argues for a holistic reconstruction of community beyond mere economic changes, emphasizing the need for a common notion of the common benefit.

• V

  The chapter argues for horizontal affiliations that unite people as human beings, contrasting with vertical partisan divisions that fragment community.

• How the half-worlds go, and how eutopia may come; and what we need before we can build Jerusalem in any green and pleasant land.

  It argues that eutopia must be built on cooperative communities, mutual aid, and a sense of shared purpose, as opposed to competitive individualism.

• IV

  Advocates for sciences to be focused on local communities, fostering a synthesis of knowledge that serves communal needs and ideals.

• The Arts in the Modern Community

  The text laments the loss of art's social function, arguing that beauty and the artist's vision are essential for a vital, integrated community life.

• VIII

  Argues that art should serve to bring people together on a common emotional plane, canalizing shared experiences rather than accentuating differences.

• IX

  Discusses the artist's responsibility to the community and the potential for art to deepen political passion and create a common design among all classes.

• XI

  Emphasizes shared possessions, universal work, and eugenic improvement as foundations for the good life.

• XII

  Emphasizes the importance of local, genuine communities rooted in geographic and cultural regions, rejecting abstract global or national units.

• Bibliography

  The bibliography focuses on utopias as complete pictures of ideal commonwealths aimed at improving the human community.

• Utopias

  Many utopias listed, such as Andreae's Christianopolis and Fourier's phalanx, emphasize communal living and social harmony as foundational principles.