The Paradox of Punishment in Utopia

This work explores what utopian writers have said about punishment. Its transdisciplinary focus is literary utopias—novels of social theory—by authors seeking solutions to the problems of social cohesion. The work centers on the paradox of punishment in utopia: why is punishment necessary even in utopia? How is punishment administered? How is punishment justified? How is punishment defined? Can punishment be avoided? It explores the range of utopian thought on punishment from Thomas More to B. F. Skinner to Ursula K. Le Guin’s ambiguous anarchic utopia. While the first two chapters center on punishment—its definition and justifications as featured in a range of utopian societies—chapters three and four survey utopian alternatives to prison and schemes of structural crime prevention. Chapter five focuses on Le Guin’s The Dispossessed as a test of anarchy’s ability to function without punishment. The work challenges our moral assumptions about punishment while prodding our moral imaginations. It is an exploration of social philosophy in its utopian expressions.
This is an exceptional work, impressively researched and beautifully written. It should appeal to anyone drawn to the study of utopias - and dystopias. The long chapter on Ursula Le Guin’s The Dispossessed is of especial interest, essential reading for her many admirers.
— David Goodway, Historian, author of Anarchist Seeds beneath the Snow and Left-Libertarian Currents
Crime and punishment are two of the thorniest thorns challenging utopian authors. If you ban them from utopia, you risk losing verisimilitude. If you feature them too much, you render your utopia less utopian. Addressing this paradoxical quandary, Donald Morris’ breadth of chronological, title, and punishment coverage is impressive and his survey of punishments is a testament to the utopian imagination.
— Kenneth Roemer, author of The Obsolete Necessity and Utopian Audiences, Editor of America as Utopia