An Elegy to Utopia - An Analysis of Erik Olin Wright's "Envisioning Real Utopias"

Abstract

Erik Olin Wright has written a book called Envisioning Real Utopias (2010), concerning the idea of exactly that: real utopias. This study has two goals: First, analysing Erik Olin Wright's Envisioning Real Utopias (2010) with the intent to see how he positions himself within the framework of postmodern theory regarding grand narratives. This paper concludes that he does not propose a grand narrative. Second, the paper will discuss the usefulness of postmodern critique of grand narratives and utopian thinking, and if the utopian project might have more value in modern political theory than certain critics seems to think. There will be applied theory from relevant thinkers within the postmodern tradition and utopian thinking, from early socialism and until today. Postmodernists are inherently negative to the grand narrative tradition and sees utopian thinking as something archaic, but this paper will argue that there still room in modern political theory for this line of thinking.