Charles Fourier

Charles Fourier (1772-1837), French philosopher and socialist. Fourier was born in Besançon and educated at the university there. About 1799 he began studying politics and economics. His first full-length work, Théorie des Quatre Mouvements et des Destinées Générales (Theory of the Four Movements and of General Destinies, 1808), expounded his social system and his plans for the cooperative organization of society. The system, known as Fourierism, is based on his belief in a universal principle of harmony, displayed in four areas: the material universe, organic life, animal life, and human society. This harmony can flourish only when the restraints that conventional social behaviour places upon the full gratification of desire have been abolished, allowing people to live free and complete lives.

The ideal harmonious state was to be accomplished by dividing society into cooperative phalanxes, or communities, each consisting of about 1,600 people who would live in the “phalanstery”, a vast communal building placed in the centre of a highly cultivated agricultural area. Elaborate rules were laid down for the conduct of life within the individual phalanx. Assignment of work was to be based on talent. Private property was not to be abolished; rather, by mixing the rich and the poor the visible distinctions between them would disappear. The communal wealth of the phalanx would liberally provide for the basic subsistence of the individual members. Marriage in the accepted sense was to be abolished and replaced by an elaborate system regulating the social behaviour of those living together.

The plan attracted little attention, and Fourier continued working as a broker in Lyon. He later moved to Paris, where he tried unsuccessfully to find a wealthy financier for his scheme. By 1832 he had managed to collect a small band of adherents to his theories. For the most part, however, the phalanxes that he founded failed.