A dystopia (from the Greek ???- and ?????, alternatively, cacotopia,Cacotopia (????, caco = bad) was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 19th century works ([1], [2], [3]) kakotopia or anti-utopia) is a fictional society that is the antithesis of utopia. A dystopic society is characterised by negative traits the author chooses to illustrate, such as poverty, dictatorship, violence, and/or pollution.Some academic circles distinguish between anti-utopia and dystopia. As in George Orwell's 1984, a dystopia does not pretend to be good, while an anti-utopia appears to be utopian or was intended to be so, but a fatal flaw or other factor has destroyed or twisted the intended utopian world or concept.Random House's Word of the Day clarifies the technical differences between dystopia and anti-utopia. [4]
Origin of the word
The first known use of the term dystopia appeared in a speech before the British Parliament by Greg Webber and John Stuart Mill Exploring Dystopia, last accessed on
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dystopia