This article is about the French utopian socialist philosopher. For other famous Fouriers, see Fourier. Fourier (SAMPA: [fVri:eI]) can mean: Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier, a French mathematician and physicist. ...

François Marie Charles Fourier

François Marie Charles Fourier (April 7, 1772 - October 10, 1837) was a French utopian socialist and philosopher. Fourier coined the word féminisme in 1837; as early as 1808, he had argued that the extension of women's rights was the general principle of all social progress. Fourier inspired the founding of the communist community called La Reunion near present-day Dallas, Texas as well as several other communities within the United States of America, such as the North American Phalanx. Image File history File links Question_book-3. ... Image File history File links Hw-fourier. ... Image File history File links Hw-fourier. ... April 7 is the 97th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (98th in leap years). ... Year 1772 (MDCCLXXII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Sunday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar). ... is the 283rd day of the year (284th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Queen Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom (1837 - 1901) 1837 (MDCCCXXXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Utopian Socialism is the term for the first currents of modern Socialist thought. ... A philosopher is a person who thinks deeply regarding people, society, the world, and/or the universe. ... This article is about communism as a form of society and as a political movement. ... La Réunion was a socialist utopian community formed in 1855 by French, Belgian, and Swiss colonists approximately three miles west of the present Reunion Arena and Reunion Tower in downtown Dallas, and near the forks of the Trinity River in Texas, USA. The community was led by the French... Dallas redirects here. ... Official language(s) No official language See languages of Texas Capital Austin Largest city Houston Largest metro area Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington Area  Ranked 2nd  - Total 261,797 sq mi (678,051 km²)  - Width 773 miles (1,244 km)  - Length 790 miles (1,270 km)  - % water 2. ... The North American Phalanx building in August, 1972 The North American Phalanx (NAP) was a secular Utopian community located in Monmouth County, New Jersey. ...

Biography

Fourier was born in 1772. He moved from his native Besançon to Lyon, the second largest city in France. As a traveling salesman and correspondence clerk, his research and thought was time-limited: he complained of "serving the knavery of merchants" and the stupefaction of "deceitful and degrading duties". A modest legacy set him up as a writer. He had three main sources for his thought: people he had met as a traveling salesman, newspapers, and introspection. His first book was published in 1808. Year 1772 (MDCCLXXII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Sunday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar). ... City flag City coat of arms Motto: Utinam (Latin: If God wills) Citadel Vauban of Besançon Location Time Zone CET (GMT +1) Coordinates Administration Country Region Franche-Comté Department Doubs (25) Intercommunality Grand Besançon Mayor Jean-Louis Fousseret (PS) (since 2001) City Statistics Land area¹ 65. ... This article is about the French city. ...

Latterly he lived in Paris, where he died in 1837.

Ideas

A plan by Fourier for a Phalanstère

Fourier declared that concern and cooperation were the secrets of social success. He believed that a society that cooperated would see an immense improvement in their productivity levels. Workers would be recompensed for their labors according to their contribution. Fourier saw such cooperation occurring in communities he called "phalanxes". Phalanxes were based around structures called "grand hotels," (or Phalanstère). These buildings were four level apartment complexes where the richest had the uppermost apartments and the poorest enjoyed a ground floor residence. Wealth was determined by one's job; jobs were assigned based on the interests and desires of the individual. There were incentives: jobs people might not enjoy doing would receive higher pay. Image File history File links Phalanstère01. ... Image File history File links Phalanstère01. ... A phalanstère was a type of building designed for an utopian community and developed in the early 1800s by Charles Fourier. ...

He believed that there were twelve common passions which resulted in 810 types of character, so the ideal phalanx would have exactly 1620 people. One day there would be six million of these, loosely ruled by a world "omniarch", or (later) a World Congress of Phalanxes. He had a touching concern for the sexually rejected - jilted suitors would be led away by a corps of "fairies" who would soon cure them of their lovesickness, and visitors could consult the card-index of personality types for suitable partners for casual sex. He also defended homosexuality as a personal preference for some people.

Influence

The influence of Fourier's ideas in French politics was carried forward into the 1848 Revolution and the Paris Commune by followers such as Victor Considérant. Painting of a barricade on Rue Soufflot (with the Panthéon behind), Paris, June 1848. ... Le Père Duchesne looking at the statue of Napoleon I on top of the Vendome column: Eh ben ! bougre de canaille, on va donc te foutre en bas comme ta crapule de neveu !… (Well now! buggering rascal, we will knock you the fuck off just like your crook of... Victor Prosper Considerant (1808–1893) was a French utopian Socialist and disciple of Fourier. ...

Numerous references to Fourierism appear in Dostoevsky's political novel The Possessed first published in 1872. In it Fourierism is used by the revolutionary faithful as something of an insult to their brethren and those within the circle are quick to defend themselves from being labeled a Fourierist. Whether this is because it is a foreign ideology or because they believe it to be archaic is never made entirely clear. Fyodor Dostoevsky. ... For the theatrical adaptation by Albert Camus, see The Possessed (play). ...

Fourier's ideas also took root in America starting several branches of what is often called a cult. Fourier's followers started phalanxes throughout America and were responsible for one of the more famous ones, Utopia, Ohio. This article does not discuss cult in its original meaning. ... The current version of this article or section is written in an informal style and with a personally invested tone. ...

In the middle of the 20th century, Fourier's influence began to rise again among writers reappraising socialist ideas outside the Marxist mainstream. After the Surrealists had broken with the French Communist Party, André Breton returned to Fourier, writing Ode à Charles Fourier in 1947. In 1969, the Situationists quoted and adapted Fourier's Avis aux civilisés relativement à la prochaine métamorphose sociale in their text Avis aux civilisés relativement à l'autogestion généralisée. Socialism refers to a broad array of doctrines or political movements that envisage a socio-economic system in which property and the distribution of wealth are subject to control by the community[1] for the purposes of increasing social and economic equality and cooperation. ... Marxism is both the theory and the political practice (that is, the praxis) derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ... Max Ernst. ... This does not cite any references or sources. ... André Breton André Breton (French IPA: ) (February 19, 1896 – September 28, 1966) was a French writer, poet, and surrealist theorist, and is best known as the main founder of surrealism. ... The Situationist International (SI) was a small group of international political and artistic agitators with roots in Marxism, Lettrism and the early 20th century European artistic and political avant-gardes. ...

Contemporary influence

North American Phalanx building in New Jersey

Fourier's work has significantly influenced the writings of Gustav Wyneken, Guy Davenport (in his work of fiction Apples and Pears), Hakim Bey, and Paul Goodman and probably influenced the Italian boss Adriano Olivetti in the management of his electronics company. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x739, 153 KB) http://memory. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x739, 153 KB) http://memory. ... The North American Phalanx building in August, 1972 The North American Phalanx (NAP) was a secular Utopian community located in Monmouth County, New Jersey. ... Gustav Wyneken (March 19, 1875–December 8, 1964). ... The cover of Apples and Pears by Guy Davenport Guy Mattison Davenport (November 23, 1927 – January 4, 2005) was an American writer, translator, painter, illustrator, intellectual, and teacher. ... Guy Mattison Davenport (November 23, 1927 – January 4, 2005) was an American writer, translator, illustrator, painter, intellectual, and teacher. ... Peter Lamborn Wilson is a political writer, poet, and self-described anarchist ontologist. He sometimes writes under the name Hakim Bey (which may mean Mr Judge in Turkish, and which may or may not have been a name-of-convenience used by other radical writers since the 1970s). ... Paul Goodman (1911–1972) was a poet, writer, public intellectual. ... Adriano Olivetti (1901 Turin- 1960 Turin), Italian entrepreneur, the son of the founder of Olivetti, Camillo Olivetti Adriano Olivetti was known worldwide during his lifetime as the Italian manufacturer of Olivetti typewriters, calculators, and computers. ...

In Whit Stillman's film Metropolitan, social idealist Tom is described as a Fourierist, and debates the success of social experiment Brook Farm with another of the characters. Whit Stillman (born John Whitney Stillman on January 25, 1952 in New York City) is a writer-director known for his sly depictions of the urban haute bourgeoisie. He has to date filmed three comedies of manners (or comedies of mannerlessness): Metropolitan (1990), Barcelona (1994), and The Last Days of... Metropolitan is the first film by director and screenwriter Whit Stillman. ... Brook Farm, a transcendentalist Utopian experiment, was put into practice by transcendentalist former Unitarian minister George Ripley at a farm in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, at that time nine miles from Boston. ...

Fourier's works

• Fourier, Charles. Théorie des quatre mouvements et des destinees generales (Theory of the four movements and the general destinies), appeared anonymously in Lyon in 1808.
• Fourier, Charles. Oeuvres complètes de Charles Fourier. 12 vols. Paris: Anthropos, 1966-1968.
• Jones, Gareth Stedman, and Ian Patterson, eds. Fourier: The Theory of the Four Movements. Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1996.
• Fourier, Charles. Design for Utopia: Selected Writings. Studies in the Libertarian and Utopian Tradition. New York: Schocken, 1971. ISBN 0-8052-0303-6

References

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On Fourier and his works

• Beecher, Jonathan (1986). Charles Fourier: the visionary and his world. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-05600-0. 
• Burleigh, Michael (2005). Earthly powers : the clash of religion and politics in Europe from the French Revolution to the Great War. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 0-06-058093-3. 

On Fourierism and Fourier's posthumous influences

• Barthes, Roland Sade Fourier Loyola. Paris: Seuil, 1971.
• Brock, William H. Phalanx on a Hill: Responses to Fourierism in the Transcendentalist Circle. Diss., Loyola U Chicago, 1996.
• Buber, Martin (1996). Paths in Utopia. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press. ISBN 0-8156-0421-1. 
• Davis, Philip G. (1998). Goddess unmasked : the rise of neopagan feminist spirituality. Dallas, Tex.: Spence Pub.. ISBN 0-9653208-9-8. 
• Desroche, Henri. La Société festive. Du fouriérisme écrit au fouriérismes pratiqués. Paris: Seuil, 1975.
• Engels, Frederick. Anti-Dühring. 25:1-309. Marx, Karl, and Frederick Engels. Karl Marx, Frederick Engels: Collected Works [MECW]. 46 vols. to date. Moscow: Progress, 1975.
• Guarneri, Carl J. (1991). The utopian alternative : Fourierism in nineteenth-century America. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-2467-4. 
• Heider, Ulrike (1994). Anarchism : left, right, and green. San Francisco: City Lights Books. ISBN 0-87286-289-5. 
• Kolakowski, Leszek (1978). Main Currents of Marxism: The Founders. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198245475. 

Anti-Dühring is a book written by Friedrich Engels in 1878. ...

See also

• Alphadelphia Association
• Brook Farm
• La Reunion (Dallas)
• North American Phalanx

Alphadelphia Association was a Fourierist commune established in Comstock township, Kalamazoo County, Michigan, in 1844. ... Brook Farm, a transcendentalist Utopian experiment, was put into practice by transcendentalist former Unitarian minister George Ripley at a farm in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, at that time nine miles from Boston. ... La Réunion was a socialist utopian community formed in 1855 by French, Belgian, and Swiss colonists approximately three miles west of the present Reunion Arena and Reunion Tower in downtown Dallas, and near the forks of the Trinity River in Texas, USA. The community was led by the French... The North American Phalanx building in August, 1972 The North American Phalanx (NAP) was a secular Utopian community located in Monmouth County, New Jersey. ...

External links

• The Lemonade Ocean & Modern Times
• Selections from the Works of Fourier a 1901 collection
• Charles Fourier Archive at marxists.org