Ideal. Flawless. Unrivaled. Quintessential. Too good to be...

Ideal. Flawless. Unrivaled. Quintessential. Too good to be true. Perfect. In addition to being synonyms of one another, all of the aforementioned words share one similar and unique characteristic – they all describe utopian societies. A utopia is generally defined as a ‘perfect world’. In this type of society, every individual is equal and the woes of humanity – greed, war, starvation – are nonexistent. However, this type of world can be found in an often-criticized government – socialism. Generally speaking, a socialist society is one in which the community owns and controls its assets as a whole. Thus, the two types of societies share many similarities. Furthermore, utopian societies are, in principle, most similar to socialist†¦show more content†¦The same groups fled religious persecution and found a new home, of sorts, in America. The first utopian experiment in America began in 1732 when the Ephrata Community was established in Pennsylvania. This society practiced communal living and, even though it eventually ended in failure as a result of typhus, their expansions of utopian ideals inspired further experiments (â€Å"Utopias†). The next wave of utopian communities in America was inspired by the Great Awakening and the Enlightenment. Due to the guarantee of religious freedom, as promised by the First Amendment, many persecuted European groups flocked to the United States. These settlers eventually formed â€Å"self-containing religious or secular communities, agrarian and largely communal in nature, far removed from the perceived vices found in the overcrowded cities†, most notably the Shakers, Rappites, the Perfectionists of the Oneida Community, the experiment at Brook Farm and the Amana Colony of the Inspirationists (â€Å"Utopias†). While these communities achieved early success, it would not last. Due to social changes, such as industrialization and increased hostility towards th eir communities, all of the experiments ended in failure. The overarching reason for their demises was that they were too separate from the rest of society and thus they could not alter their ways of life in order to sustain their communities when it mattered most (â€Å"Utopias†). The foundations