Matriarchal society’s historical reality was less important than its utopian vision.

Evidence

To Fromm, as might be expected, the socialist reading of Bachofen was more congenial. The importance of studying matriarchal societies, he argued, was not for their historical interest - indeed, their actual existence in the past was not demonstrable - but for the vision they offered of an alternative reality. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 339

Categorization

• XREF: This function of myth as utopian vision rather than historical fact anticipates the Institute’s later interest in Ernst Bloch’s ‘principle of hope’ and utopian thought. — connects to: Utopian vision is a necessary but insufficient ingredient of politics. — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 378; Utopian visions historically served as critical distance rather than action blueprints — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 840; Utopian visions reveal a system’s limits only through failed attempts at transcendence — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 470
• DEFINE: Clarifies how the Frankfurt School read mythology: as anticipatory vision, not as historical claim.

Broader Connections

• Utopian visions historically served as critical distance rather than action blueprints #expands (0.88) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 840
• Utopian vision is a necessary but insufficient ingredient of politics. #complicates (0.85) — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 378
• Utopian visions reveal a system’s limits only through failed attempts at transcendence #complicates (0.82) — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 470