dystopia

Dystopia is an imagined society characterized by oppression, deprivation, and the illusion of a functioning social order. The term, from Greek dys meaning bad and topos meaning place, describes futures where social, political, and technological arrangements produce suffering rather than improvement. It contrasts with utopia, a notion of a perfect society.

Common features include pervasive surveillance, censorship, and propaganda; extreme social or economic inequality; authoritarian rule; suppression of civil liberties; and environmental or technological breakdown. In many depictions, individuals are coerced into obedience through fear, indoctrination, or manipulation of information.

The dystopian mode gained prominence in the 20th century. Canonical works include George Orwell's 1984, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, and Yevgeny Zamyatin's We, which influenced later writers. More recent examples appear in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale and Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games, as well as films and television that explore similar themes.

Dystopias function as social critique and thought experiments about power, technology, and freedom. They examine how institutions shape behavior, the costs of conformity, and the resilience or complicity of individuals under coercive systems.