Analyzing Contemporary Society through Lived Utopia: Prefiguration and Change

by Antje Daniel

Overview

What if utopia wasn't a distant dream, but already unfolding around us?

Focusing on South Africa, this compelling book rethinks utopia not as a fictional un-reachable future, but as a lived practice—emerging in social movements and intentional communities.

Rejecting capitalism, it explores how people create alternative ways of living social orders or economies, imagining and organising the world. Blending decolonial sociology, political sociology, utopian studies and real-world experiences, the book offers a fresh and original approach to understanding social transformation in times of crisis.

A powerful read for scholars, students and activists interested in resistance and hope for alternative futures.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781529252316
Publisher:	Bristol University Press
Publication date:	04/01/2026
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x (d)

About the Author

Antje Daniel is a senior scholar in the political and environment sociology, comparative social analysis, gender and intersectionality as well as future and utopia at the Department of Development Studies, University of Vienna.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. (Lived) Utopia in the Context of Academic Debates

3. African Utopias from the Perspective of Decolonial Sociology

4. Lived Utopias: Criticism and Collective Imaginaries of a Good Life

5. Lived Utopias and Their Aspiration to a Good Life

6. Inside Lived Utopias: Biographical Testimonies and Intersectional Configuration

7. Lived Utopias, Resonances, Change

8. Conclusion