Lessons from Dystopia: Critique, Hope and Political Education

This article analyses utopian and dystopian literature and its role in political education in order to make the case for imparting a ‘utopian aspiration’ that nurtures hope for the pursuit of political ideals. I note an ‘anti-utopian’ theme in both literature and political philosophy, a theme that emerges in a particularly fascinating pair of works in the dystopian canon, Orwell's 1984 and Zamyatin's We. I argue that Zamyatin's story provides a more nuanced and valuable approach to the problem of political ideals and their potential for harm than the bleak message favoured by Orwell. Utopian and dystopian themes, I contend, can offer an invaluable orientation in political critique and practice if they nourish a utopian aspiration. The idea of hope for the new is a vital part of our political education, which is too easily dismissed by critics who purport to proffer more ‘realistic’ views.