History Main / SlidingScaleOfSocialSatisfaction

* Hell On Earth -- The average person is dirt poor, resources are scarce, so only very few get access to them. Surviving is the top priority, so intellectual queries, revolutions, and entertainment are nearly impossible to pursue. If someone else is restricting freedom, then there's neither freedom nor safety. If the world has succumbed to absolute anarchy, then there may be freedom but the world is so dangerous, that freedom is used in the worst ways possible.
* Controlled But Well-Fed -- People have their basic necessities provided for but only to the limit the government sets. That means they have no commodities whatsoever. Freedom is highly restricted but there's a modicum of safety. Just a little, because if you fail to toe the line, nasty punishments await. Totalitarian regimes are usually at fault.
* Knowledge is Forbidden -- The living conditions are overall better, but the population is kept complacent by limiting its access to knowledge and (political) power. Because, you know, knowledge is power and anything unknown to you is useless and should be burned.
* Peak of Crime -- The main cause of concern and of societal disruption is crime, organized or otherwise. Illegal activities rule the government and the average person has no means to defend themself from it to the point most are forced to engage in them in order to survive. The difference between this and pure anarchy is that there ''is'' a social system that ought to protect people from criminals, it's just that it can't or it won't. This level and the ones before are {{Crapsack World}}s.
* Revolution is the Key -- This is the first level in which revolutions born from societal discontent can, in fact, provoke a change in the system. Whether it's for better or worse depends on how cynical the tone is. In either case, the morality is [[GrayAndBlackMorality gray and black]] as, in the second case, it's implied a new generation of revolutionaries can succeed where their predecessors failed.
* Technology/Magic Compensates For Life Quality -- Technological advances or magic have produced miraculous health care, the coolest of entertainment, and an easy solution to most mundane problems (from farming to getting a coffee). However, the world's wealth disparity has sharply worsened. Cancer can be cured but people are robbed of their agency and ability to impact the world's politics. People are mostly free, though.
* True Neutral -- Society is heterogeneous enough to present all levels in this sliding scale. There's a near dystopia in some sectors while others bask in an almost utopia, as well as several others in between. This level and the ones before are [[AWorldHalfFull Worlds Half Full]].
* Outside is Burning, Inside is Safe -- The government might be of dystopian levels of nastiness but it grants its population a good standard of life and even access to commodities and safety. If you fall to toe the line there are consequences, but absolute homogeneity is not mandatory.
* Too Happy to Care (aka UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans) -- Everything is done for the greater good, measly things such as individuals can be damned. The ones in power scapegoat anything/anyone and occasionally forgo democracy as long as it warranties that the majority will be happy, well fed, and, most importantly, well entertained. Everyone is too busy being high, having sex, or enjoying their best lives to care about what the government must do to ensure such a lifestyle. This level and the one before are {{Crapsaccharine World}}s.
* Sweet with a Helping of Sour (aka SugarBowl Worlds) -- The world is a beautiful place, both in terms of living conditions and aesthetics. Especially the second. It's not exempt from the occasional problem, though. The difference with the level above is that the issues are not hidden from the general population.
* Heaven On Earth -- It can be achieved through multiple means but the consensus is that it has the best from the previous levels plus veritable freedom, access to knowledge, and politicians are honest. In some utopias, {{AI}}s run everything, so nobody has to work. In others, people only work in what they love, not needing to concern themselves about money. There's both freedom and safety.

[[AC: Hell On Earth]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}''

[[AC: Controlled But Well-Fed]]
* ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'': Individual thought is prohibited (called thoughtcrime), the Big Brother oversees society's every level, and people may not starve but always eat and do the same. Nor they are allowed to own any kind of commodity.
* ''Literature/{{We}}'': The numbers are generally well cared for but have next-to-nothing degrees of freedom, especially in the sexual domain. And, well, sexual repression of women and the [=LGBT=]+ community is one of the world's biggest problems and causes of suicide and violence. Ah, and The Benefactor watches them all.

[[AC: Knowledge is Forbidden]]
* ''Literature/{{Fahrenheit 451}}'': Books are forbidden and burnt because knowledge is dangerous. Having fun is great, but knowing things is not. Mindless entertainment harms society, though.
* ''Film/{{Brazil}}'': Specifically, knowledge about the devastated outside world and the barely-functioning nature of the government, which, by the way, is highly controlling as well.

[[AC: Peak of Crime]]
* ''Film/AClockworkOrange''
* ''Film/ThePurge''

[[AC: Revolution is the Key]]
* ''Literature/{{Divergent}}''
* ''Series/{{Firefly}}''
* ''Literature/TheHungerGames''
* ''ComicBook/VForVendetta''

[[AC: Technology/Magic Compensates For Life Quality]]
* The future envisioned by Creator/NealStephenson.
* ''Literature/SnowCrash''

[[AC: True Neutral]]
* ''Franchise/StarWars''
* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''
* ''Franchise/StarTrek''

[[AC: Outside is Burning, Inside is Safe]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': The Fire Nation and Ba Sing Se.
* ''Literature/Harmony2008''

[[AC: Too Happy to Care]]
* ''Literature/TheGiver''
* ''Literature/TheOnesWhoWalkAwayFromOmelas''
* ''Literature/BraveNewWorld''

[[AC: Sweet with a Helping of Sour]]
* ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub''
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePony''

[[AC: Heaven On Earth]]
* ''Literature/TheCulture''

* ''Literature/{{Fahrenheit 451}}'': NewMediaIsEvil.

* ''VideoGame/Fallout''

[[AC: Knowledge is forbidden]]
* ''Literature/{{Fahrenheit 451}}''
* ''Film/{{Brazil}}''

* ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour''
* ''Literature/{{We}}''

* Peak of Crime -- The main cause of concern and of societal disruption is crime, organized or otherwise. Illegal activities rule the government and the average person has no means to defend themself from it to the point most are forced to engage in them in order to survive. The difference between this and pure anarchy is that there ''is'' a social system that ought to protect people from criminals.
* True Neutral -- Society is heterogeneous enough to present all levels in this sliding scale. There's a near dystopia in some sectors while others bask in an almost utopia, as well as several others in between.

[[AC: Peak of Crime]]
* ''Film/AClockworkOrange''
* ''Film/ThePurge''

* {{Dystopia}} -- Hell on Earth: The average person is dirty poor or has no commodities and must toe the line, else nasty punishments await. Totalitarian regimes or the world succumbing to [[AnarchyIsChaos anarchism]] are the likely causes. In any case, this level has the worst of the other levels on this sliding scale. And there's no freedom or safety.

* {{Utopia}} -- It can be achieved through multiple means but the consensus is that it has the best from the previous levels plus veritable freedom, access to knowledge, and politicians are honest. In some utopias, {{AI}}s run everything, so nobody has to work. In others, people only work in what they love, not needing to concern themselves about money. There's both freedom and safety.

[[AC: Dystopia]]

[[AC: Utopia]]

* {{Dystopia}} -- Hell on Earth: The average person is dirty poor or has no commodities and must toe the line, else nasty punishments await. Totalitarian regimes or the world succumbing to [[AnarchyIsChaos anarchism]] are the likely causes. In any case, this level has the worst of the other levels on this sliding scale. And there's no freedom nor safety.

* {{Utopia}} -- It can be achieved through multiple means but the consensus is that it has the best from the previous levels plus veritable freedom, access to knowledge, and politicians are honest. In some utopias, {{AI}}s run everything, so nobody has to work. In others, people only work in what they love, not needing to concern themselves about money.

* {{Dystopia}} -- Hell on Earth: The average person is dirty poor or has no commodities and must toe the line, else nasty punishments await. Totalitarian regimes or the world succumbing to [[AnarchyIsChaos anarchism]] are the likely causes. In any case, this level has the worst of the other levels on this sliding scale.

* Outside is Burning, Inside is Safe -- The government is of dystopian levels of nastiness but it grants its population a good standard of life and even access to commodities and safety. If you fall to toe the line there are consequences, but absolute homogeneity is not mandatory.

* ''Series/{{Firefly}}''

* Technology Compensates For Life Quality -- Technological advances have produced miraculous health care, the coolest of entertainment, and an easy solution to most mundane problems (from farming to getting a coffee). However, the world's wealth disparity has sharply worsened. Cancer can be cured but people are robbed of their agency and ability to impact the world's politics. People are mostly free, though.

[[AC: Technology Compensates For Life Quality]]

* ''Series/{{Firefly}}

* ''Franchise/StarTrek''

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': The Fire Nation and Ba Sing Se. Both could be a FantasyCounterpartCulture for Singapore (especially the latter) and function as rather repressive Eastern societies whose inhabitants seem to be on the whole happy with their situation.

* Every Person On Their Own -- The government is there and is fairly effective even if still corrupt. Resources are varying degrees of available and most people are solidly middle class. Rich people wield a lot of power but the population is not entirely helpless, that is, they sometimes can have a say on how things are run and are generally free. Life can be great but it can suck majorly as well; it depends both on the person's actions and circumstances.

[[AC: Every Person On Their Own]]

Note that this is a YourMileageMayVary trope for a reason. Not everyone will rate fictional societies in this exact order. Some may consider the most freedom-oriented regimes more favorable while other may prefer those where resources are more homogeneously distributed.

* Outside is Burning, Inside is Safe -- The government is of dystopian levels of nastiness but it grants their population a good standard of life and even access to commodities and safety. If you fall to toe the line there are consequences, but absolute homogeneity is not mandatory.

[{AC: Technology Compensates For Life Quality]]

* {{Dystopia}} -- Hell on Earth: The average person is dirty poor or has no commodities and must toe the line, else nasty punishments await. Totalitarian regimes or the world succumbing to [[AnarchyIsChaos anarchism]] are the likely causes.
* Knowledge is forbidden -- The living conditions are overall better, but the population is kept complacent by limiting its access to knowledge and (political) power. Because, you know, knowledge is power and anything unknown to you is useless and should be burned.
* Revolution is the key -- This is the first level in which revolutions born from societal discontent can, in fact, provoke a change in the system. Whether it's for better or worse depends on how cynical the tone is.
* Technology compensates for life quality -- Technological advances have produced miraculous health care, the coolest of entertainment, and an easy solution to most mundane problems (from farming to getting a coffee). However, the world's wealth disparity has sharply worsened. Cancer can be cured but people are robbed of their agency and ability to impact the world's politics.
* Peak of crime -- The main cause of concern and of societal disruption is crime, organized or otherwise. Illegal activities rule the government and the average person has no means to defend themself from it to the point most are forced to engage in them in order to survive. The difference between this and pure anarchy is that there ''is'' a social system that ought to protect people from criminals.

* Outside is burning, inside is safe -- The government is of dystopian levels of nastiness but it grants their population a good standard of life and even access to commodities and safety. If you fall to toe the line there are consequences, but absolute homogeneity is not mandatory.
* Too happy to care (aka UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans) -- Everything is done for the greater good, measly things such as individuals can be damned. The ones in power scapegoat anything/anyone and occasionally forgo democracy as long as it warranties that the majority will be happy, well fed, and, most importantly, well entertained. Everyone is too busy being high, having sex, or enjoying their best lives to care about what the government must do to ensure such a lifestyle. This level and the one before are {{Crapsaccharine World}}s.
* {{Utopia}} -- It can be achieved through multiple means but the consensus is that it has everything good from the previous levels plus veritable freedom, access to knowledge, and politicians are honest. In some utopias, {{AI}}s run everything, so nobody has to work. In others, people only work in what they love, not needing to concern themselves about money.

* ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' or ''Literature/{{We}}''- hell on earth with nasty punishments for those who fail to toe the line.
* ''Literature/{{Fahrenheit 451}}''- More than a lesson on how NewMediaAreEvil, given that the government in question burns the books and houses of those who do read, replacing them with meaningless, endless soap operas and entertainment for the sake of keeping the population docile - and as a result, everyone is pretty much a StepfordSmiler.
* ''Film/{{Brazil}}'' or ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'' - Look like bad versions of England at first glance, but both have Orwellian cruelty beneath the surface. The latter came to power through a program against homosexuals, non-white Britons, and other "undesirables".
* ''Film/AClockworkOrange''- the nastiness comes from SociopathicHero youth and the brainwashing used as an attempt to stop it seems a fairly reasonable solution given the circumstances.
* The Fire Nation or Ba Sing Se from ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''- both could be a FantasyCounterpartCulture for Singapore (especially the latter) and function as rather repressive Eastern societies whose inhabitants seem to be on the whole happy with their situation.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' can be found at both ends to a degree - the Imperium of Man acknowledges that it is a dystopia, but is a far sight better than anything else. Meanwhile, the Tau Empire sees itself as a utopia for all races, but non-Tau have a different view.
* On the libertarian side, the future envisioned by Creator/NealStephenson might lie at about this point. The world's wealth disparity has sharply worsened, but all sorts of cool new technologies have emerged, and the absolute standard of living doesn't seem to have changed much (a few satirical excesses in ''Literature/SnowCrash'' aside).
* Some of the examples of UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans such as that in "Literature/TheOnesWhoWalkAwayFromOmelas", ''[[{{Series/Firefly}} Firefly/Serenity]]'' and perhaps that of ''Literature/TheGiver'' as well.
* ''Literature/BraveNewWorld''- A CrapsaccharineWorld that feels like utopia for the majority of people and thus enjoys popular support. The few malcontents can usually be ignored, as most people are too busy having sex and getting high to be influenced by them; at worst, an occasional troublemaker is exiled to an out-of-the-way island. Nevertheless, despite all the unchecked fun and hedonism (and in many ways because of it), it's clearly established as being a pretty shallow, hollow and fairly pointless existence.
* CrystalSpiresAndTogas - has the good parts of Literature/BraveNewWorld and is also intellectual. The [[Literature/TheCulture Culture]] novels are a good example. The entire populace spends all of its time entertaining each other with games, endeavours and such, while benevolent computers run everything. ''Franchise/StarTrek'' is another good example.
* A truly ungodly long list, complete with ongoing discussion, can be found [[http://forums.spacebattles.com/showthread.php?t=105383 here]]. It rates fictional cultures and races by letters in order of pleasantness to horror for humans to be conquered by them.

Although the terms "{{Dystopia}}" and "{{Utopia}}" are opposites, between the two there are a number of intermediate points. From straight dystopia, in which everyone is so miserably unhappy that it's impossible to believe that anyone could tolerate it for a second, to utopia, which is essentially heaven on earth, a chart might look as follows. Those between the poles are universes which, while oppressive to varying extents, are not much different from any real country:

* Some of the examples of UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans such as that in "Literature/TheOnesWhoWalkAwayFromOmelas'', ''[[{{Series/Firefly}} Firefly/Serenity]]'' and perhaps that of ''Literature/TheGiver'' as well.

* ''[[Literature/NineteenEightyFour 1984]]'' or ''We''- hell on earth with nasty punishments for those who fail to toe the line.

* Some of the examples of UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans such as that in "TheOnesWhoWalkAwayFromOmelas'', ''[[{{Series/Firefly}} Firefly/Serenity]]'' and perhaps that of ''Literature/TheGiver'' as well.

* Some of the examples of UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans such as that in "TheOnesWhoWalkAwayFromOmelas'', ''[[{{Firefly}} Firefly/Serenity]]'' and perhaps that of ''Literature/TheGiver'' as well.

* ''Literature/BraveNewWorld''- Feels like utopia for the majority of people. The few malcontents can usually be ignored, as most people are too busy having sex and getting high to be influenced by them; at worst, an occasional troublemaker is exiled to an out-of-the-way island. Nevertheless, despite all the unchecked fun and hedonism (and in many ways because of it), it's clearly established as being a pretty shallow, hollow and fairly pointless existence.
* CrystalSpiresAndTogas- has the good parts of Literature/BraveNewWorld and is also intellectual. The [[Literature/TheCulture Culture]] novels are a good example. The entire populace spends all of its time entertaining each other with games, endeavours and such, while benevolent computers run everything. ''Franchise/StarTrek'' is another good example.

* ''Literature/{{Fahrenheit 451}}''- More than a lesson on how NewMediaIsEvil, given that the government in question burns the books and houses of those who do read, replacing them with meaningless, endless soap operas and entertainment for the sake of keeping the population docile - and as a result, everyone is pretty much a StepfordSmiler.

* ''Literature/{{Fahrenheit 451}}''- More than a lesson on how TV is evil, given that the government in question burns the books and houses of those who do read-- and isn't that concerned if the inhabitants are inside when this happens-- and everyone is pretty much a StepfordSmiler.

* ''{{Fahrenheit 451}}''- More than a lesson on how TV is evil, given that the government in question burns the books and houses of those who do read-- and isn't that concerned if the inhabitants are inside when this happens-- and everyone is pretty much a StepfordSmiler.

* Some of the examples of UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans such as that in ''The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas'', ''[[{{Firefly}} Firefly/Serenity]]'' and perhaps that of TheGiver as well.

* CrystalSpiresAndTogas- has the good parts of Literature/BraveNewWorld and is also intellectual. TheCulture novels are a good example. The entire populace spends all of its time entertaining each other with games, endeavours and such, while benevolent computers run everything. ''Franchise/StarTrek'' is another good example.

* ''Film/{{Brazil}}'' or ''VForVendetta'' - Look like bad versions of England at first glance, but both have Orwellian cruelty beneath the surface. The latter came to power through a program against homosexuals, non-white Britons, and other "undesirables".