Education, society and art in the vision of British utopian socialism. The Social outlook, projects for reform and educational proposals of Robert Owen, John Ruskin e William Morris

Abstract

This article describes the links between the economic ideas of important exponents of British Utopian socialism and their proposals for alternative educational systems. In the 19th century, Robert Owen, John Ruskin and William Morris were concerned with the conditions of workers. The main nucleus of their thoughts was aimed at finding ways to avoid the exploitation of the mass of workers and to safeguard the beauty of art, nature and life. Notwithstanding notable differences between the three thinkers, Owen, Ruskin e Morris denounced the limits and abuses of the capitalist system. They advocated abandoning economic liberalism, and replacing it with new social-economic models which would have been based on co-operatives (Owen), corporations of workers (Ruskin) or artisans workshops (Morris). Central to the ideas of all three was the necessity of changing the traditional educational models as a step towards the reform of society. The article analyses these proposals for education in the light of their social, economic and literary thought.