American Sociological Association Annual Meeting 2012

Exploring real utopias implies developing a sociology of the possible, not just of the actual. This is a tricky research problem, for while we can directly observe variation in what exists in the world, discussions of possibilities and limits of possibility always involve more speculative and contentious claims about what could be, not just what is. The task of a sociology of real utopias, then, is to develop strategies that enable us to make empirically and theoretically sound arguments about emancipatory possibilities. This opens a wide and challenging agenda for sociology:

-Empirical studies of innovative contemporary institutions and practices around the world that in one way or another prefigure emancipatory alternatives to dominant social structures and institutions. The task here is both to seek out the best and most interesting examples of innovation and to understand the limits, contradictions, and dilemmas which they confront.

-Historical studies of attempts at building real utopias, both for specific institutions and for broader projects of social transformation.

-Analysis of reform proposals for specific institutions—for example, universities, criminal justice, the media, city government, the financial system, food systems, environmental regulation, the Internet, intellectual property, the military, corporations—that focus both on the way a given proposal might help solve pressing current problems and point in the direction of broader real utopian transformations.

-Systematic theoretical models of alternative institutions at both the micro-level and the macro-level, with particular attention to the normative ideals and trade-offs of different institutional designs.

-Studies of the role of utopian thinking in sociological theory, philosophy, and other forms of social thought.

-Research on discourses about social alternatives in the popular imagination and social movements.

-Resea