{"title":"The Social Prison: Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed as Postanarchist Critical Utopia","authors":"David W. Miller","doi":"10.5325/utopianstudies.34.3.0399","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Ursula K. Le Guin’s classic work of anarchist literature, The Dispossessed (1974), is preoccupied with the issue of imprisonment. This is hardly surprising given anarchism’s longstanding critical engagement with the prison as state apparatus. For classical anarchists, the prison represents one of the most vile and visible examples of state repression. However, while the abolition of prisons constitutes one of the fundamental goals of anarchism, the alternatives put forth by classical anarchist thinkers risk perpetuating the underlying power relations of carceral justice by encouraging social shaming and the policing of norms. The anarchist society of The Dispossessed uses these techniques to discourage the accumulation of power in order to create an egalitarian society. Unfortunately, these same techniques encourage a conformity that hinders other anarchist values, such as creativity and individual self-determination. In essence, the anarchist society depicted in the novel replaces the literal prison with a different form of imprisonment—the social prison, which continues the repressive function of the state through different means. By creating an “ambiguous” anarchist utopia, Le Guin anticipates the critiques of classical anarchism formulated by poststructural and postmodern anarchist theorists. These critiques are most evident in the theme of imprisonment that threads throughout the novel.","PeriodicalId":44751,"journal":{"name":"Utopian Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4000,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Utopian Studies","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.5325/utopianstudies.34.3.0399","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"HUMANITIES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Ursula K. Le Guin’s classic work of anarchist literature, The Dispossessed (1974), is preoccupied with the issue of imprisonment. This is hardly surprising given anarchism’s longstanding critical engagement with the prison as state apparatus. For classical anarchists, the prison represents one of the most vile and visible examples of state repression. However, while the abolition of prisons constitutes one of the fundamental goals of anarchism, the alternatives put forth by classical anarchist thinkers risk perpetuating the underlying power relations of carceral justice by encouraging social shaming and the policing of norms. The anarchist society of The Dispossessed uses these techniques to discourage the accumulation of power in order to create an egalitarian society. Unfortunately, these same techniques encourage a conformity that hinders other anarchist values, such as creativity and individual self-determination. In essence, the anarchist society depicted in the novel replaces the literal prison with a different form of imprisonment—the social prison, which continues the repressive function of the state through different means. By creating an “ambiguous” anarchist utopia, Le Guin anticipates the critiques of classical anarchism formulated by poststructural and postmodern anarchist theorists. These critiques are most evident in the theme of imprisonment that threads throughout the novel.
厄休拉-勒奎恩(Ursula K. Le Guin)的无政府主义文学经典作品《被剥夺者》(The Dispossessed)(1974 年)集中讨论了监禁问题。鉴于无政府主义长期以来一直对作为国家机器的监狱持批判态度,这就不足为奇了。对古典无政府主义者来说,监狱是国家镇压最卑劣、最明显的例子之一。然而,虽然废除监狱是无政府主义的基本目标之一,但经典无政府主义思想家提出的替代方案却有可能通过鼓励社会羞辱和规范管理来延续监禁正义的潜在权力关系。一无所有的人》中的无政府主义社会利用这些技术阻止权力的积累,以建立一个平等的社会。不幸的是,这些技巧也助长了墨守成规,阻碍了无政府主义的其他价值观,如创造力和个人自决。实质上,小说中描绘的无政府主义社会用另一种形式的监禁--社会监狱--取代了字面意义上的监狱,通过不同的手段延续了国家的镇压职能。通过创造一个 "模棱两可 "的无政府主义乌托邦,勒奎恩预见到了后结构主义和后现代无政府主义理论家对古典无政府主义的批判。这些批判在贯穿小说始终的囚禁主题中体现得淋漓尽致。