- Question
What is Brave New World about?
What is Aldous Huxley's Brave New World really about? This entry maps the readings of the dystopian novel — the use of technology to control society, the consumer society, the clash of happiness and truth, and the dangers of an all-powerful state.
The Use of Technology to Control Society
The reading that Huxley's novel is above all about technology as an instrument of social control, in which the same applied science that promises comfort and health is what makes obedience unnecessary to enforce.
The Consumer Society
The reading that Huxley's novel is a satire of consumption, in which an order of endless appetite and immediate satisfaction is what secures the population's consent, making the economy rather than the state its real target.
The Incompatibility of Happiness and Truth
The reading that Huxley's novel is organised around a single trade, in which contentment is secured by giving up truth, difficulty and depth, and that its real question is whether that exchange is one a society should make.
The Dangers of an All-Powerful State
The reading that Huxley's novel is a warning about concentrated political power, on the grounds that every other mechanism in it — technological, economic and psychological — requires a single authority able to apply it to a whole society.