Social organization in the imaginary community described by Hythloday in Thomas More's Utopia is highly structured around certain basic principles that allow the society to function as a working unit. Many of these fundamental rules focus on communal life in Utopia, promoting shared property, minimal law enforcement, trust, and honesty, while downplaying notions of luxury and finance. More contends that the Utopians, according to nature, should "lead a life as free of anxiety and as full of joy as possible, and to help all one's fellow men toward that end". Desire, the driving force that motivates all human behavior is overlooked in this equation. More recognizes this briefly, asking, "If such a life is good, and we are supposed, indeed obliged to help others to it, why shouldn't we first seek all of it for ourselves, to whom we owe no less charity than anyone else?" (pg 51). Desire, a central element of the human psyche, would complicate these basic principles by introducing notions of greed, competition, and crime into the society that works to suppress these social ills into submission. The very foundations of Hythloday's social order rest upon maintenance of the un

With the introduction of desire, gold and silver would be now considered valuable, thus establishing precious metals as a form of money. This would require a fundamental shift in the belief system of the Utopians. A banking system would be necessary as people accumulate wealth in order for the storage and protection of money. The element of financial risk and debt would be present whereas it had not been before. People are no longer working to meet each other's needs, but are working under the impetus of desire, wanting to accumulate as much personal wealth as possible. This fundamental change would be directly contradictory to their entrenched indifference to gold and silver.

Desire would bring forth emotions in Utopian citizens that were previously absent: jealously, aggression and anxiety. The competition brought about by the constant struggle for the accumulation of wealth would manifest itself in the Utopians as feelings previously unexperienced, and the collective psyche of the group would suffer greatly. Those who fall behind in the competition may become lazy and pessimistic, resulting in a decline in the production of goods and services that were previously supplied for the common use. Social welfare programs would have to be introduced based on the principle of donation as opposed to working one's fair share. This shift would be a serious challenge to the implicit communal economics and would not properly function within the context of the social order designed by Thomas More.

In order to deal with the consequences of unbridled human desire, Utopia would have to adapt their once simple legal code into more rigorous procedures designed to protect the interest of individual citizens. Utopia in its current form strives against "other countries, where they have a multitude of incomprehensibly intricate laws" (pg 64). In the advent of humans acting on unobstru

Some common words found in the essay are:
More's Utopia, Thomas Trade, Utopia Social, society function, communal living, , communal living utopia, society introduction desire, introduction desire, basic principles, communal society, accumulation wealth, gold silver, living utopia, precious metals, personal gain,
Approximate Word count = 1277
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)