# XII explained — The Story of Utopias

> Chapter companion for The Story of Utopias by Lewis Mumford.

## What happens

The chapter reflects on the lasting impression of Plato's Republic, emphasizing that while the basic occupations of life remain unchanged, what has fundamentally transformed are the social relations: servitude, compulsion, avarice, and indolence are eliminated, and individuals live in just relations to the whole community, according to nature, without private privilege.

## Themes in this chapter

### Community and Social Harmony

The chapter emphasizes living in just relations to the whole community, with no private privilege, allowing each person to grow fully.

### Duality of Human Existence

The contrast between unchanged human occupations and profoundly changed social relations highlights the duality of human existence.

## Character check-ins

### Plato

Plato's voice and vision of the Republic are central to the chapter's reflection on transformed social relations.

## Key lines

> What has changed? What has profoundly changed is not the things that men do, but the relations they bear to one another in doing them.

The fundamental transformation is not in the activities themselves, but in the social relationships that structure those activities.

_This captures the core insight of the chapter regarding the nature of change in Plato's Republic._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters/xii
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_story_of_utopias_se/chapters