Dorsch's View of Dystopian Environments

I begin this new blog series with the central aim, to analyze the characteristics of dystopian environments in literature and use that knowledge to determine how those characteristics are present in today's society.  Before delving into this topic, I must start with a definition of "dystopia" to use throughout this blog series: "A dystopia [...] is a radically dysfunctional society in which the lives of the inhabitants are significantly impaired, damaged, or otherwise  undesirable" (Seeger, 2018). From this definition, we understand that a dystopian environment is dramatically unpleasant.  "Dystopia" was derived from another term, "utopia."  Seeger (2018) basis the difference between utopia and dystopia within a society on the "imagined social order" of its inhabitants.  Opposite from a dystopian environment, a utopian environment is one that is predicated on characteristics like human success and a perfect order of society.