Utopia, Critical Culture and Industrial Society: an Examination of the Subversive Nature of Saint-Simonist Discourse

Abstract

Under the generally pejorative term of Utopian socialism there can be found a number of thinkers and social reformers committed to the problems of the period after 1789, marked by instability and the emergence of a new structure of economic relations. The case of Saint-Simon and his school, Saint-Simonism, constitutes a clear example of one of these innovative movements that shook up and invigorated the social and political scene of the time. In this paper we shall analyze the two dimensions present within Saint-Simon’s project. The more classic and well known side of his work is doctrinal, associated with the establishment of a future industrial society in France. A second dimension inspired a potentially critical discourse that addressed the existing social problems and, consequently, was considered more dangerous and threatening to the prevailing order.