Role of Hope and Ideology in Utopian and Scientific Socialism

UTOPIA AND DYSTOPIA
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Utopia and Dystopia
Socialism is a political and economic concept that advocates for social ownership of means of production. This theory establishes a system that will increase happiness for all citizens. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, in his Utopia, Thomas Moore outlined a society of social ownership of production factors. However, Karl Marx and Engels criticized Moore's ideology as utopian socialism (Paden, 2002). Horowitz (1989) described utopia as ‘‘any imaginary system of social or political perfection.’’ It explains the illusionary existence of a perfect society with moral values. This ideology can be useful in constructing scientific socialism despite criticism surrounding it. Therefore, utopian socialism is an ideology based on the notion that a just society can be developed by eradicating evil. In contrast, scientific socialism is based on the idea that society can realize changes through revolution. These ideologies are different but share some viewpoints. For instance, Utopian socialists and scientific socialists focus on abolishing private ownership and creating the social ownership of property (Horowitz, 1989). Thinkers of both concepts wanted to eliminate poverty and unemployment. They also wanted to create a society of equality, including equal distribution of resources and wealth. Within utopian socialism and scientific socialism are hope and ideology, which the two concepts view separately. This essay discusses the role of hope and ideology in utopian socialism and scientific socialism.
Utopian Socialism
Utopian socialists were a group of thinkers who believed that creating a moral and just society was possible by eliminating evil (Gili & Mangone, 2022). They presented a distant vision of an ethically equitable society where everyone had good morals and people were treated equally. These thinkers assumed that individuals would end their selfishness and consider the common good. They strive for a perfect and equal society by promoting the ideals of an impartial humanitarian world dominated by strong moral values, faith, hope, and happiness. Utopian socialists believe that a just and equal society can be established by eliminating inequalities, encouraging common ownership, rejecting selfish and despotic rulers, creating equal opportunities for everyone, promoting harmony within the society, instituting primacy of collective rights over individual rights, eliminating class struggles, and encouraging equal redistribution of wealth and resources (Engels, 1999).
One of the major utopian socialist ideas is promoting good morals. Good morals breed positive values, which help establish a perfect society. During the industrial revolution, people worked for many hours and were prone to fatalities due to exhaustion. They aimed to improve the work conditions and the existing social, economic, and political systems. They also believed in establishing a utopian society with minimum challenges due to good morals. Utopian socialists supposed that education was a significant aspect of a humane society, change was possible without violence, and equal wealth distribution was possible. They held that good morals put the public welfare before theirs. For this reason, there was no need for violence in the fight for equality and justice.
Scientific Socialism
Scientific socialism is an approach for understanding and forecasting economic, social and material phenomena by exploring their historical trends scientifically to obtain possible outcomes and future developments. Karl Marx and Friederich Engels developed scientific socialism in the 19th century (Thomas, 2008). This ideology is the foundation of communism. Karl Marx believed capitalism was the primary cause of injustices and class struggles. As such, there was the need to forcefully replace the existing class structure with an improved social structure (Thomas, 2008). ‘‘Marx based his ideology and analysis of reality on three fundamental theories: the labor theory of value, the theory of alienation, and the materialistic view of history’’ (Stetsenko, 2020). He argued, ‘‘the capitalist system alienates workers and creates pre-conditions for inequality and unhappiness’’ (Stetsenko, 2020).
In a capitalist society, the means of production belong to property owners, who also own workers. Workers do own the means of production or the result of their work. This system alienates workers from their production activity, the product of their work, and the potential for innovation (Thomas, 2008). Since every class was defined by its relation to the production process, the workers' revolution was the only way to change the social structure. The revolution would result in a socialist society, with production aiming at serving social needs instead of maximizing personal profit.
Utopian socialism and scientific socialism differed in numerous capacities. Their differences defined their ideologies. Engels (1999) stated, ‘‘Scientific socialism was a system of understanding and predicting social, economic, and political outcomes by investigating historical trends using scientific methods to predict future changes.’’ Unlike utopian socialists, who believed that ideas determined social development, scientific socialists believed that economic conditions were the primary determinants of societal development (Horowitz, 1989). Utopian socialists believed that change was only possible through shifts in moral values. Marxist held that socialism and revolution were major components of progress.
According to Engels (1999), ‘‘all socialist ideals advocate for a utopian society based on moral values and equality.’’ However, utopian and scientific socialism believes in different mechanisms for achieving the common objective. Friederich Engels evaluated the distinction between the two ideologies in his book ‘Socialism: Utopian and scientific.’’ According to Engels (1999), ‘‘utopian socialists advocate for social transformation without a political revolution.’’ In the same context, the change triggers in scientific socialists' perspective were class struggles and revolutions. Whereas utopian socialists believed that societies could organize themselves through better use of public debate and consensus, scientific socialists believed that revolution was necessary to achieve a structural change.
Role of ‘Hope’ and Ideology in Utopian Socialism and Scientific Socialism?
Both utopian socialists and scientific socialists talked about the perfect world, a kind of paradise where everyone would be equal. They had quite similar ideas because they advocated for peace and equality. However, they differed in the means of establishing this perfect world or, to be precise, getting there. Karl Max provided more of a scientific approach by giving exact directions for achieving paradise and its components. He outlined that ‘‘paradise would not be accompanied by religion, government, or private ownership’’ (Thomas, 2008).
In contrast, utopian socialists' ideas were not supported by anything tangible. They wanted change. They drew an image of this perfect world where everyone observed socialistic ethics and no one experienced exploitation and discrimination (Stetsenko, 2020). However, these were only ideas not backed by a detailed plan of how to build such a world. Utopian socialists saw no problems in establishing this world but scientific socialists accounted for many such difficulties and proposed ways of addressing them (Speier, 1985). Thus, Marx taught that a happy ending was perfect and gave guidelines on the kind of work to accomplish it. At the same time, utopian socialists only informed people about the likelihood of a happy ending.
Role of Hope
In his work, the Principle of Hope, Bloch reinstates the Marxist visionary principle based on his conviction that everything non-imaginary related to hope is the attainment of real humanity (Gili & Mangone, 2022). Bloch’s primary idea is that ‘‘the human condition lies between being and not-yet-being and between being and being-in-possibility’’ (Gili & Mangone, 2022). Humans are not created to rest in the present imperfect condition. Instead, they desire and strive towards a non-existing world, a new social being dimension that better links to their fulfillment need (Bloch, 1986). ‘‘Hope is both a positive aspect of a person’s social being and an outlook that individuals must learn. Its work does not relinquish; it focuses on success, not failure’’ (Bloch, 1986, p. 91). Besides, hope is neither passive like fear nor sealed into emptiness. Its emotion broadens people (Gili & Mangone, 2022). This emotion of hope requires individuals to actively concentrate on what is becoming, to which they belong.
According to Bloch, ‘‘hope is anticipating what is not yet given. It develops toward a ‘‘not-yet’’ ontology. It has a cognitive and a fundamental dimension: the perception of the world and involvement with it’’ (Bloch, 1986, p. 6). From a cognitive viewpoint, ‘‘hope is a form of accessing reality that sometimes is not yet conscious and reflects an objective possibility’’ (Bloch, 1986, p. 6). From an emotional-affective position, the difference between expectant emotions and filled emotions is evident. Filled emotions are unavailable things, whereas expectant emotions are already available (Gili & Mangone, 2022). According to Bloch (1986), ‘‘hope is a positive, expectant emotion that offsets negative emotions like fear. It is a combination of desires and beliefs about potential facts.’’
From a utopian socialist perspective, hope is the expectation or speculation about a future perfect society accompanied by positive things (Speier, 1985). Though imaginary, utopian socialists believe that moral values will accompany future society. Hope, in this ideology, plays a significant role in anticipating a perfect society. Utopian socialism asserts an ideal dream of the futu...