Real Utopias
현실 유토피아
An emancipatory social science methodology and research project initiated by Erik Olin Wright in 1991. It identifies existing institutions and practices within capitalism that embody democratic and egalitarian principles, and empirically evaluates their potential to replace systems of domination. Wright examined Mondragón cooperatives, Wikipedia, basic income, and participatory budgeting as exemplary real utopias; his later work increasingly recognized the contradictions of scale and identity these non-capitalist forms face when growing within capitalist world markets.
In depth
In Envisioning Real Utopias (2010), Wright laid out four pathways to social ownership (state ownership, worker ownership, community ownership, and public trusts) and theorized transition strategies of 'interstitial revolution' and 'symbiotic transformation.' The core proposition is that non-capitalist economic forms can grow gradually within capitalism, and once they reach sufficient social scale, they can create a virtuous cycle in which political power reinforces institutional change. After Wright's death in 2019, the research program continues through fellow scholars and provides theoretical foundations for platform cooperativism, just transition, and related discussions.
Sources
- Wikipedia (EN) overview of real utopian sociology as emancipatory social science, the Real Utopias Project workshop conference model since 1991, and publication through Verso's Real Utopias Project series
- Wikipedia (EN) Wright's biography, analytical Marxism, real utopias concept, interstitial revolution, Envisioning Real Utopias (2010), Mondragón and Wikipedia as case studies, and his 2013 ASR article 'Transforming capitalism through real utopias'
- ssc.wisc.edu Wright's institutional homepage at UW–Madison, hosting the Real Utopias Project materials