How does my research address the problem(s) of utopia? What connections could I make with More’s Utopia in my seminar paper?

My research addresses the problem of Utopia in a myriad of ways. Beginning with the book New Heaven, New Earth we see that for an intentional community to be successful a prophet is actually necessary and there a little examples that prove otherwise. This created a problem at Onieda because Noyes was such an astounding prophet that no one cam close to replacing him and he did not choose to elect a successor.

Moreover all the practises at Oneida that were considered extreme can bee seen as the problem of Utopia in that maybe it went too far and allowed no one time to adjust to a completely new world view. For instance complex marriage was such a rejection of family and marriage that it seemed crazy to so many. As well the high regard for women that made Oneida into a near matriarchal society contrasted so starkly with the gender roles of the time. Lastly, community of property was equally a grand idea that had seemed too extreme for some.

Relating Oneida to More’s Utopia is fascinating. The island of Utopia has many similarities and differences to Oneida. For one women are not as well treated in that they are subject to their husbands whereas at Oneida there is no marriage and women are not confined to domesticity. Additionally, slavery is practised in Utopia whereas it is not at Oneida. In the island of Utopia every household has two slaves who are either criminals or immigrants.

Moving on to the similarities. There is no private property at both Oneida and on the island of Utopia. On the island there are public warehouses and no locks on doors as in Oneida where everyone was free to roam from room to room and not accumulate material wealth. Also the island of Utopia has a welfare state as does Oneida in a more local sense whereby everyone is looked after by the whole community.

Finally religion is embraced on the island of Utopia and only atheists are looked down upon but allowed to be. At Oneida a more constricted religion is followed that involves a reinterpretation of Christianity to the earlier forms believing in the the essence of the Spirit forming an structure that has similarities to behaviouralism. This seems understandable given the differing sizes of the communities.

Most importantly the communities both have interdependence embedded within them.