Throughout this semester, we have each developed our own personal understanding and interpretation of social utopias. In the beginning of the semester, I struggled to form personal opinions and reactions to the readings because I had such limited experience with social utopias. As the year progressed, I started to learn more and more from our readings and class discussions which helped me form my own critical analysis on American Fourierism.
As I read my sources on Fourierism, I was shocked about the Americans’ unrealistic expectations. This blind optimism was evident throughout the semester as people attempted to attain perfection, but unfortunately each time they were left disappointed. While I am critical of this unrealistic confidence, I also realize that it has positively influenced communities and resulted in noticeable change. Even though true perfection may be impossible, the idea of perfection is not. And this idea is paramount in the process of establishing the utopian ideals of equality, harmony, and happiness.