utopian communities

utopian communities

communities established with the aim of realizing, or moving towards, an ideal form of society, e.g. 19th-century socialist communities such as Robert Owen's New Harmony, or modern-day sectarian religious communities such as Jonestown (Guyana). Such communities have often been short-lived, but as 'social experiments’ they have attracted considerable attention in sociology for the indication they may offer on the viability of alternative patterns of social organization. See UTOPIA, COMMUNES.