They present society itself in a perfected form

It’s not often one sees “society” and “perfect” in the same sentence. No wonder why Utopias are outside the realm of reality.

And since utopias themselves are works of fiction created by minds based in the real (us humans), and we are imperfect, the “perfect” societies are themselves up for argument. The perfect-ness of the society portrayed in Plato’s Republic is certainly contested, and for good reason. Since Utopias cannot actually portray perfection, but merely the opinion of perfection in the eyes of the author, the perfection Foucault alludes to here is triply unreal.