Utopijski socijalizam je odgovor na društvenu i političku situaciju nastalu nakon Francuske revolucije kada industrijske i urbane transformacije počinju da radikalno mijenjaju modema društva. Utopijski socijalisti poznati u svoje vrijeme kao reformatori društva, što su u stvari i bili, reagirali su na nasilje i raskid s prethodnim društveno političkim preokretom preporučajuči mirnu i stupnjevitu transformaciju društva na bazi ideja: udruživanja, suradnje, univerzalizma i kozmopolitizma. Fourier, Saint-Simon, Owen i njihovi sljedbenici kritizirali su nastajuči kapitalizam, utjecaj takovih institucija kao što je religija, privatno vlasništvo i brak, u težnji da kreiraju društvene uslove u kojima može nastati nezavisna individua, ovi društveni teoretičari su nastojali da svoje ideje uključe u komunalni način života što je povratno utjecalo na druge da se priružuju ovom pokretu. Oni nisu, kao što se često govori, samo, »preteče socijalizma«, već slobodni mislioci koji svojim mišljenjem odgovaraju na izazove modernog doba. oni su nastojali pronaći odgovore o sfraranju novog društva ukazivanjem na ono što u njemu ne valja i time su dali svoj pozitivni doprinos. Premda se 1848. god označava kao kraj ovog pokreta, on je ipak nastavio da živi kroz čitavo 19-to stoljeće stvarajući kasnije »novi duh utopije«.Utopian socialism is a response to the social and political situation in the aftermath of the French revolution when the industrial and urban transformation began to radically change the existing modem societies. The utopian socialists, known at the time as social reformers, which they in fact were, reacted to the violence and the abruptness of the previous social and political upheavals by proposing peaceful and gradual transformations of society on the basis of ideas of association, cooperation, universalism and cosmopolitanism. Fourier, Saint-Simon, Owen and their followers criticzed the nascent capitalism, the influence of such institutions as religion, private property, marriage, aiming at the creation of social conditions for the rise of an independent individual. These social theoreticians seeked to implement their ideas in communal ways of life that would in turn influence by their success others to join the movement. They were not as is often said merely »predecessors of socialism«, but free thinkers in their own right whose thought was challenged by the modem age. They seeked responses to the new society that was appearing often conscious of the evils it was bringing as well of its positive contributions. Although 1848. does mark a halt to the breadth of this movement it does nonetheless continue in the 19th century creating later a »new spirit of utopia
