Het beeld van de held en van de maatsschappij in "social science-fiction": inhoudsanalyse van romans van Ray Bradbury en John Wyndham
Abstract
The image of the hero and society in social science-fiction. A contentanalysis of novels by Ray Bradbury and John Wyndham - Up to now, research on science-fiction has been neglected by sociologists, although this sort of literature has a significance as a cultural phenomenon, a function as vehicle of social commentary and criticism, and is read by a particular and vast public. The intention of this study is to analyse the total content of the social science-fiction novels Fahrenheit 4)1 by Ray Bradbury and The Chrysalids by John Wyndham. A method to analyze the total content of the novels was found in “value-analysis”, a variant of content-analysis designed by R. K. White. The conclusions of the analysis lay in two fields: 1. the sociology of the novel: the image of the hero is that of an investigator of authentic values in a conformist and conventional world. Particular in social science-fiction is the fact that society plays the part of the anti-hero. The hero is confronted primarily to social forces instead of other personages; z. the impact of the social sciences and social developments: Fahrenheit 441 borrows concepts of sociology and social psychology. The Chrysalids is inspired by anthropology. The authors extrapolate the conclusions of the social sciences to their extreme limits. In doing so, their novels show social criticism and moralism. Social science-fiction is more than simple amusement. It gives evidence of a real concern in problems as survival of the human race and personal autonomy in a world that is over-populated and in which science created possibilities for over-organisation and total destruction.
How to Cite:
Van Poucke, W., (1973) “Het beeld van de held en van de maatsschappij in "social science-fiction": inhoudsanalyse van romans van Ray Bradbury en John Wyndham”, Tijdschrift voor Sociale Wetenschappen 18(3), 251–282. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/tvsw.95947
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