Science Fiction and Economic Disparity: A Study of Utopian Longings

Abstract

This study looks at how Kim Stanley Robinson s Mars trilogy (1993-96), Iain M. Banks s Culture novel The Player of Games (1988), and John Ringo s novel Live Free or Die (2010) work within the genre of SF to establish and upset economic norms present in society today. This study considers these contemporary SF novels alongside recent economic research to explore how SF directly and indirectly portrays the growing trend of economic disparity. I show how these representations, whether utopic or dystopic, engage the reader to question and resist established aspects of economic exploitation and, more broadly, contemporary capitalist ideology in general. The cognitive estrangement of current socio-historical conditions allows readers to identify and consequently analyze established norms (ideology) from alternative perspectives. Within this context, I argue that cognitive SF can utilize its popular generic trappings to both interrogate and reimagine real-world economic disparities.