Utopianism is the ism of utopias.

It means a belief or interest in a perfect world -

or at least a world designed to be perfect.

The word 'utopia' was coined in 1516 by Sir Thomas More -

writer, saint and opponent of Henry the VIII's marriage plans -

in his book of the same name.

Utopia has been taken by some people at face value

as a book about a perfect land.

But others point to the fact that the word 'utopia' literally means...

and that the book is a satire.

But that hasn't stopped people.

Through the years there has been all sorts of ideas

about a perfect society.

Economic utopias with no poverty...

ecological utopias where humans live in harmony with nature

and so on and so forth.

Many cultures and religions

have a myth of a perfect society in the past,

like the Garden of Eden.

Communes, music festivals and naturist camps

could all be seen as attempts to create a mini utopia on Earth.

There are many kinds of utopias

but one of the central qualities of any utopia, paradoxically,

is that it doesn't exist.

Being a utopianist essentially means being a dreamer.

When John Lennon sang,

"You may say I'm a dreamer"

in his famous hit single and utopian anthem, Imagine,

he was referring to exactly this quality.

Utopianism's main flaw is its obsession with perfection.

This can lead to absurdities like the Soviet Russian belief

that one day all crime would be eradicated

because under true socialism crime would not be necessary.

Or the more sinister belief in fascist ideologies

that racial purity would eliminate all evil from society.

Perhaps this is why much discussion of the topic

is now confined to utopianism's dark side -

dystopianism,

a way of describing worlds, real or imaginary,

in entirely negative terms.

From George Orwell's 1984 to Margaret Atwood's A Handmaid's Tale,

dystopian fiction has become increasingly popular in books,

films and television.

But interest in utopias isn't going anywhere -

references within books have been on a steady rise since the 1900s

with clear spikes in the 60s and also - perhaps surprisingly -

in the 80s.

And who could deny the perfection of the world - at least in microcosm -

as you sit by an ocean

and listen to the sound of the waves crashing on a beach.

Or when you first see a blanket of bluebells in the spring.

And without at least striving for a better world, where would we be?

In chains, with rats chewing off our faces,

that's where.

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