Do you know of any workable utopian social theories, that are in any novels?

Ecotopia and its sequel Ecotopia Emerging by Ernest Callenbach do a pretty good job. There are a few dated ideas in the books, but lots of good ideas for an ecologically-sustainable future.

I like the utopia described in Voyage From Yesteryear by James Hogan. Though how to get there from here requires interstellar spaceflight technology and a pristine earth-like planet ready for colonization.

Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy

Here is a HTML version.

I have played out this game as a debate process many a time since during college and given a clean slate and blank canvas to create their utopian society, as long as there are humans involved, 99/100 times these posited scenarios ultimately break bad into a Lord of the Flies conflict at the very least.

Even though it’s not branded as a utopian fiction, Starhawk’s “Fifth Sacred Thing” mostly takes place in a post apocalyptic San Francisco—but the ancient hippies created a pacifist communal society that must battle the evil militarized Los Angeles state.

It’s pretty clear that the author wanted to make her society her idea of perfect. It’s interesting, but sometimes an eyeroll. This link hawks the book AND has a description of her utopian society fully laid out on a link somewhere.

http://www.starhawk.org/writings/fifth-sacred-thing.html

True Democratic Communism with a feedback loop. (Might require mild eugenics after a while) Making this up as I go along…

The people (all born with equal chances through effort of the system) vote on all matters that need a decision. But they don’t have to care, they can ignore 99% of the referandums and most people will. The referandum itself comes to a vote after the matter has played out (this will take a long long time for big issues) and the majority voters gain or lose influence based on the outcome.

This is just as flawed as any other system but it will create a utopia if you introduce into government slowly enough. There has not yet been a proper example of democracy or communism on this planet so don’t whine about communistic dictatorships and how politics suck everywhere.

The trouble with any kind of communist/socialist system is that people ARE different, and have different degrees of intelligence and creativity. Even if it’s constructed that everybody has the exact same resources and opportunities at the outset, in a few generations, there will be rich and poor again. The same problems will happen again as now, the rich exploiting and committing fraud against the poor and claim that it’s all within the law…the “free market” and “mutually consensual,” yada, yada, yada…

The best utopia will be one where machines provide all material needs, nobody has to work for a living, and there is no money. The work people do will be purely voluntary for personal pleasure, such as musicians, writers, artists, filmmakers, actors, etc., etc. And, otherwise, let people live as they choose, outlawing only murder, rape, assault, etc.