Adystopia (lit. "bad place") is an imagined world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized, fearful lives.[2] It is an imagined place (possiblystate) in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically atotalitarian orenvironmentally degraded one. Dystopia is widely seen as the opposite ofutopia – a concept coined byThomas More in 1516 to describe an ideal society.[3] Bothtopias arecommon topics in fiction. Dystopia is also referred to ascacotopia[4] oranti-utopia.[citation needed]
Dystopias are often characterized by fear or distress,[5]tyrannical governments,environmental disaster,[6] or other characteristics associated with a cataclysmic decline in society. Themes typical of a dystopian society include: complete control over the people in a society through the use ofpropaganda andpolice state tactics, heavycensorship of information or denial offree thought, worship of an unattainable goal, the complete loss of individuality, and heavy enforcement of conformity.[7] Despite certain overlaps,dystopian fiction is distinct frompost-apocalyptic fiction, and an undesirable society is not necessarily dystopian. Dystopian societies appear in many sub-genres of fiction and are often used to draw attention to society,environment, politics, economics, religion, psychology, ethics, science, or technology. Some authors use the term to refer to existing societies, many of which are, or have been,totalitarian states or societies in an advanced state of collapse. Dystopias, through an exaggerated worst-case scenario, often present a criticism of a current trend, societal norm, or political system.[8]
"Dustopia", the original spelling of "dystopia", first appeared in Lewis Henry Younge'sUtopia: or Apollo's Golden Days in 1747.[9] Additionally,dystopia was used as an antonym forutopia byJohn Stuart Mill in one of his 1868 Parliamentary speeches (Hansard Commons) by adding the prefix "dys" (Ancient Greek:δυσ- "bad") to "topia" (Ancient Greek:τόπος,lit. 'place'), reinterpreting the initial "u" as the prefix "eu" (Ancient Greek:ευ- "good") instead of "ou" (Ancient Greek:οὐ "not").[10][11] It was used to denounce the government's Irish land policy: "It is, perhaps, too complimentary to call them Utopians, they ought rather to be called dys-topians, or caco-topians. What is commonly called Utopian is something too good to be practicable; but what they appear to favour is too bad to be practicable."[12][13][14][15]
Decades before the first documented use of the word "dystopia" was "cacotopia"/"kakotopia" (usingAncient Greek:κακόs, "bad, wicked") originally proposed in 1818 byJeremy Bentham: "As a match for utopia (or the imagined seat of the best government) suppose a cacotopia (or the imagined seat of the worst government) discovered and described."[16][17] Though dystopia became the more popular term, cacotopia finds occasional use;Anthony Burgess, author ofA Clockwork Orange (1962), said it was a better fit forOrwell'sNineteen Eighty-Four because "it sounds worse than dystopia".[18]
Some scholars, such asGregory Claeys andLyman Tower Sargent, make certain distinctions between typical synonyms of dystopias. For example, Claeys and Sargent defineliterary dystopias as societies imagined as substantially worse than the society in which the author writes. Some of these areanti-utopias, which criticize attempts to implement various concepts of utopia.[19] In the most comprehensive treatment of the literary and real expressions of the concept,Dystopia: A Natural History, Claeys offers a historical approach to these definitions.[20] Here, the tradition is traced from early reactions to theFrench Revolution. Its commonlyanti-collectivist character is stressed, and the addition of other themes—the dangers of science and technology, of social inequality, of corporate dictatorship, ofnuclear war—are also traced. Apsychological approach is also favored here, with the principle of fear being identified with despotic forms of rule, carried forward from the history of political thought, and group psychology introduced as a means of understanding the relationship between utopia and dystopia. Andrew Norton-Schwartzbard noted that "written many centuries before the concept "dystopia" existed,Dante'sInferno in fact includes most of the typical characteristics associated with this genre – even if placed in a religious framework rather than in the future of the mundane world, as modern dystopias tend to be.[21] In the same vein, Vicente Angeloti remarked that "George Orwell's emblematic phrase,a boot stamping on a human face – forever, would aptly describe the situation of the denizens in Dante's Hell. Conversely, Dante's famous inscriptionAbandon all hope, ye who enter here would have been equally appropriate if placed at the entrance to Orwell's "Ministry of Love" and its notorious "Room 101."[22]
People Leaving the Cities, photo art byZbigniew Libera, which imagines a dystopian future in which people have to leave dyingmetropolises
Dystopias typically reflect contemporarysociopolitical realities and extrapolate worst-case scenarios as warnings for necessary social change or caution.[23] Dystopian fictions invariably reflect the concerns and fears of their creators' contemporaneous culture.[24] Due to this, they can be considered a subject ofsocial studies.[25] In dystopias, citizens may live in a dehumanized state, be under constant surveillance, or have a fear of the outside world.[26] In the filmWhat Happened to Monday the protagonists (identical septuplet sisters) risk their lives by taking turns onto the outside world because of aone-child policy in place in this futuristic dystopian society.[27]
In a 1967 study,Frank Kermode suggests that the failure of religious prophecies led to a shift in how society apprehends this ancient mode. Christopher Schmidt notes that, while the world goes to waste for future generations, people distract themselves from disaster by passively watching it as entertainment.[28]
In the 2010s, there was a surge of popular dystopianyoung adult literature and blockbuster films.[29][28] Some have commented on this trend, saying that "it is easier to imagine the end of the world than it is to imagine theend of capitalism".[30][31][32][33][34] Cultural theorist and criticMark Fisher identified the phrase as encompassing the theory ofcapitalist realism—the perceived "widespread sense that not only is capitalism the only viable political and economic system, but also that it is now impossible even to imagine a coherent alternative to it"—and used the above quote as the title to the opening chapter of his book,Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?. In the book, he also refers to dystopian film such asChildren of Men (originally anovel byP. D. James) to illustrate what he describes as the "slow cancellation of the future".[34][35]Theo James, an actor inDivergent (originally anovel byVeronica Roth), explains that "young people in particular have such a fascination with this kind of story [...] It's becoming part of the consciousness. You grow up in a world where it's part of the conversation all the time–the statistics ofour planet warming up. The environment is changing. The weather is different. These are things that are very visceral and very obvious, and they make you question the future, and how we will survive. It's so much a part of everyday life that young people inevitably – consciously or not – are questioning their futures and how the Earth will be. I certainly do. I wonder what kind of world my children's kids will live in."[29]
The political principles at the root of fictional utopias (or "perfect worlds") areidealistic in principle and result in positive consequences for the inhabitants; the political principles on which fictional dystopias are based, while often based on utopian ideals, result in negative consequences for inhabitants because of at least onefatal flaw.[40][41]
Dystopias are often filled withpessimistic views of the ruling class or a government that is brutal or uncaring and rules with an 'iron fist'.[42] Dystopian governments are sometimes ruled by afascist regime or dictators. These dystopian government establishments often have protagonists or groups that lead a "resistance" to enact change within their society, as seen inAlan Moore'sV for Vendetta.[43]
The economic structures of dystopian societies in literature and other media have many variations, as the economy often directly relates to the elements depicted by the writer as the source of the oppression. There are severalarchetypes that these societies tend to follow. One theme is the dichotomy ofplanned economies versusfree market economies, a conflict which is found in such works asAyn Rand'sAnthem andHenry Kuttner's short story "The Iron Standard". Another example isNorman Jewison's 1975 filmRollerball.[46]
Some dystopias, such as that ofNineteen Eighty-Four, featureblack markets with goods that are dangerous and difficult to obtain or the characters may be at the mercy of the state-controlled economy.Kurt Vonnegut'sPlayer Piano depicts a dystopia in which the centrally controlled economic system has indeed made material abundance plentiful, but deprived the mass of humanity of meaningful labor; virtually all work is menial and unsatisfying, with only a small number of the group that achieves education being admitted to the elite and its work.[47] InTanith Lee'sDon't Bite the Sun, there is no want of any kind – only unabashed consumption and hedonism, leading the protagonist to begin looking for a deeper meaning to existence.[48] Even in dystopias where the economic system is not the source of the society's flaws, as inBrave New World, the state often controls the economy. A character, reacting with horror to the suggestion of not being part of the social body, cites as a reason that it works for everyone else.[49]
Dystopian fiction frequently draws stark contrasts between the privileges of the ruling class and the dreary existence of the working class. InAldous Huxley's 1931 novelBrave New World, a class system is prenatally determined, with Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons. The lower classes have reduced brain function and are specially conditioned to be satisfied with their position in life.[50] Outside of this society, several human settlements exist in the conventional way, but the World Government describes them as 'savages.'[citation needed]
InGeorge Orwell'sNineteen Eighty-Four, the dystopian society features a tiered class structure: the ruling elite, the 'Inner Party,' at the top; the 'Outer Party' below them, functioning as a type of middle class with minor privileges; and the working-classproletariat at the bottom of the hierarchy, with few rights, yet making up the vast majority of the population.[51]
In the filmElysium, the majority of Earth's surface population lives in poverty, with little access to health care, and is subjected to worker exploitation andpolice brutality. Meanwhile, the wealthy live above Earth in luxury, with access to technologies that cure all diseases, reverse aging, and regenerate body parts.[citation needed]
Written a century earlier, the future society depicted inH. G. Wells'The Time Machine had started in a similar way toElysium – with workers consigned to living and working in underground tunnels while the wealthy live on a surface transformed into a beautiful garden. However, over a long period, the roles were eventually reversed—the rich degenerated and became decadent 'livestock,' regularly caught and eaten by the underground cannibal Morlocks.[citation needed]
Some fictional dystopias, such asBrave New World andFahrenheit 451, have eradicated the family and prevented it from re-establishing itself as a social institution. InBrave New World, where children are artificially reproduced, the concepts of "mother" and "father" are consideredobscene. In some novels, such asWe, the state is hostile to motherhood, as a pregnant woman from One State rebels.[52]
In dystopias, religious groups may play the role of oppressed or oppressor. One of the earliest examples isRobert Hugh Benson'sLord of the World, about a futuristic world whereMarxists andFreemasons led by theAntichrist have taken over the world and the only remaining source of dissent is a tiny and persecutedCatholic minority.[53] InBrave New World, the establishment of the state involved lopping off the tops of all crosses (symbols of Christianity) to make them 'T's (symbols ofHenry Ford's Model T).[54]
InC. S. Lewis'sThat Hideous Strength, the leaders of the fictional National Institute of Coordinated Experiments—an academic and governmental joint venture promoting an anti-traditionalist social agenda—are contemptuous of religion and require initiates to desecrate Christian symbols.Margaret Atwood's novelThe Handmaid's Tale is set in a future United States under a Christian-based theocratic regime.[55]
In the Russian novelWe byYevgeny Zamyatin, first published in 1921, people are permitted to live out of public view twice a week for one hour and are referred to only by numbers instead of names.[56]
The latter feature also appears in the filmTHX 1138. In some dystopian works, such asKurt Vonnegut'sHarrison Bergeron, society forces individuals to conform to radicalegalitarian social norms that discourage or suppress accomplishment, even competence, as forms of inequality.[citation needed] Complete conformity and suppression of individuality (to the point of acting in unison) are also depicted inMadeleine L'Engle'sA Wrinkle in Time.
Fictional dystopias are commonly urban and frequently isolate their characters from all contact with the natural world.[58] Sometimes they require their characters to avoid nature, as whenwalks are regarded as dangerouslyanti-social in Ray Bradbury'sFahrenheit 451, as well as in his short story "The Pedestrian".[citation needed] InThat Hideous Strength, science coordinated by the government is directed toward the control of nature and the elimination of natural human instincts. InBrave New World, the lower class is conditioned to be afraid of nature but encouraged to visit the countryside and consume transport and games to promote economic activity.[59] Lois Lowry's "The Giver" shows a society where technology and the desire to create a utopia have led humanity to enforce climate control on the environment, as well as to eliminate many undomesticated species and to provide psychological and pharmaceutical repellent against human instincts.E. M. Forster's "The Machine Stops" depicts a dramatically altered global environment which forces people to live underground due to an atmospheric contamination.[60] As Angel Galdon-Rodriguez points out, this kind of isolation caused by external toxic hazard is later used by Hugh Howey in his series of dystopias of theSilo Series.[61]
Contrary to thetechnologically utopian claims, which view technology as a beneficial addition to all aspects of humanity, technological dystopia concerns itself with and focuses largely (but not always) on the negative effects caused by new technology.[63]
Technologies reflect and encourage the worst aspects of human nature.[63]Jaron Lanier, a digital pioneer, has become a technological dystopian: "I think it's a way of interpreting technology in which people forgot to taking responsibility."[citation needed] "'Oh, it's the computer that did it, not me.' 'There's no more middle class? Oh, it's not me. The computer did it.'" This quote explains that people begin to not only blame the technology for the changes in lifestyle but also believe that technology is all powerful. It also points to a technological deterministic perspective in terms of reification.[64]
Technologies harm our interpersonal communication, relationships, and communities.[65] Communication among family members and friends has decreased due to increased time spent using technology. Virtual space misleadingly heightens the impact of real presence; people resort to technological media for communication.
Technologies reinforce hierarchies: concentrate knowledge and skills; increase surveillance, and erode privacy, widen inequalities of power and wealth, and lead to surrendering control to machines.Douglas Rushkoff, a technological utopian, states in his article that the professional designers "re-mystified" the computer, making it harder to understand. Users had to depend on built-in programs that were incomprehensible to ordinary users.[63]
More efficiency and choices can harm our quality of life (by causing stress, destroying jobs, and increasing materialism).[66] In his article "Prest-o! Change-o!", technological dystopian James Gleick describes the remote control as a classic example of technology that fails to solve the problem it was designed to fix. Gleick quotes historian Edward Tenner, who argues that the remote control's ease of use increases distraction for viewers. As a result, people become more dissatisfied with what they are watching.[66]
Technologies destroy nature, harming human health and the environment. Business priorities replaced community, and the "story online" replaced real people as the "soul of the Net".[63]
"An imaginary place or condition in which everything is as bad as possible; opp. UTOPIA (cf. CACOTOPIA). So dystopian n., one who advocates or describes a dystopia; dystopian a., of or pertaining to a dystopia; dystopianism, dystopian quality or characteristics."
The example of first usage given in theOED (1989 ed.) refers to the 1868 speech by John Stuart Mill quoted above. Other examples given in theOED include:
1952 Negley & Patrick Quest for Utopia xvii. 298 The Mundus Alter et Idem [of Joseph Hall] is...the opposite of eutopia, the ideal society: it is a dystopia, if it is permissible to coin a word. 1962 C. WALSH From Utopia to Nightmare 11 The 'dystopia' or 'inverted utopia'. Ibid. 12 Stories...that seemed in their dystopian way to be saying something important. Ibid. ii. 27 A strand of utopianism or dystopianism. 1967 Listener 5 Jan. 22 The modern classics Aldous Huxley'sBrave New World and George Orwell'sNineteen Eighty Four are dystopias. They describe not a world we should like to live in, but one we must be sure to avoid. 1968New Scientist 11 July 96/3 It is a pleasant change to read some hope for our future is trevor ingram ... I fear that our real future is more likely to be dystopian.
^Dr. Andrew C. Norton-Schwartzbard, "Foretastes of Modernity in Renaissance Literature and Art" in Catherine Summers (ed.) "Papers Presented to The Fourth Inter-University Symposium on Late Medieval Culture", p.59, p.71 (note).
^Vicente Angeloti, "Leggere Dante con gli occhi del tardo Novecento", Trimestrale Letterario di Firenze, Estate 1987, pp. 38-56.
^Baker, Stephen; McLaughlin, Greg (1 January 2015). "From Belfast to Bamako: Cinema in the Era of Capitalist Realism".Ireland and Cinema. Palgrave Macmillan UK:107–116.doi:10.1057/9781137496362_10.ISBN978-1-349-56410-1.
^William Steinhoff, "Utopia Reconsidered: Comments on1984" 153, in Eric S. Rabkin, Martin H. Greenberg, and Joseph D. Olander, eds.,No Place Else: Explorations in Utopian and Dystopian Fiction.ISBN0-8093-1113-5.
^William Steinhoff, "Utopia Reconsidered: Comments on1984" 147, in Eric S. Rabkin, Martin H. Greenberg, and Joseph D. Olander, eds.,No Place Else: Explorations in Utopian and Dystopian Fiction.ISBN0-8093-1113-5.
^Ochrem, Marek. "AN IRON GRIP ON SOCIETY IN VLADIMIR VOINOVICH’S MOSCOW 2042THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF DYSTOPIA."Rusycystyczne Studia Literaturoznawcze 33 (2023): 1-29.
^Jane Donawerth, "Genre Blending and the Critical Dystopia", inDark Horizons: Science Fiction and the Dystopian Imagination, ed. Raffaella Baccolini and Tom Moylan (New York: Routledge, 2003).
^"Rollerball (1975)".British Film Institute. Archived from the original on May 6, 2016. Retrieved April 1, 2025.
^Howard P. Segal, "Vonnegut'sPlayer Piano: An Ambiguous Technological Dystopia," 163 in Eric S. Rabkin, Martin H. Greenberg, and Joseph D. Olander, eds.,No Place Else: Explorations in Utopian and Dystopian Fiction.ISBN0-8093-1113-5.
^Lee, Tanith.Don't Bite the Sun. Bantam Books:1999.
^William Matter, "On Brave New World" 98, in Eric S. Rabkin, Martin H. Greenberg, and Joseph D. Olander, eds.,No Place Else: Explorations in Utopian and Dystopian Fiction.ISBN0-8093-1113-5.
^William Matter, "OnBrave New World" 95, in Eric S. Rabkin, Martin H. Greenberg, and Joseph D. Olander, eds.,No Place Else: Explorations in Utopian and Dystopian Fiction.ISBN0-8093-1113-5.
^Orwell, George (8 June 1949).1984. Secker & Warburg.ISBN0451524934.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
^Gorman Beauchamp, "Zamiatin'sWe" 70, in Eric S. Rabkin, Martin H. Greenberg, and Joseph D. Olander, eds.,No Place Else: Explorations in Utopian and Dystopian Fiction.ISBN0-8093-1113-5.
^William Matter, "OnBrave New World" 94, in Eric S. Rabkin, Martin H. Greenberg, and Joseph D. Olander, eds.,No Place Else: Explorations in Utopian and Dystopian Fiction.ISBN0-8093-1113-5.
^Margaret Atwood,The Handmaid's Tale, McClelland and Stewart, 1985.ISBN0-7710-0813-9.
^Berne, Suzanne. "Ground Zero".Patterns for College Writing: 182.
^Eric S. Rabkin; Martin H. Greenberg; Joseph D. Olander, eds. (1983). "Avatism and Utopia 4".No Place Else: Explorations in Utopian and Dystopian Fiction. Southern Illinois University Press.ISBN0-8093-1113-5.
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