Charles Fourier

Charles Fourier (1772-1837) was an important early Socialist thinker. His Utopian vision is, retrospectively at least, rather laughable but his radical social and moral perspectives have become somewhat mainstream in contemporary thought. Fourier, for example, is credited with originating the word feminism in 1837 and supported equal access to work regardless of gender. He also defended homosexuality, seeing it as a personal preference for some people. He also defended children whose imagination and curiosity typified the kind of passionate and industrious labor that he wanted to see flourish. However, despite his socially progressive leanings on most issues he did have an anti-Semitic worldview. He detested trade, or at least the act of profiting from it, and saw it as the source of all evil. In his mind this institution was the doing of 'the Jew' and so, of course, in his future Utopian society they would be forced to work the farm fields.


However, the real cornerstone of Fourier's thought has less to do with his socially progressive leanings than it does with his strangely detailed Utopian vision. One of the important features of his thought is the concept of 'attractive work,' that is labor that is performed willingly and most likely for the satisfaction of one's own desire or benefit. Unfortunately, Fourier does not concern himself with trying to understand why it is that work (especially industrial work) is so unattractive and mundane, which Marx will flesh out later. This lack of insight leads him to characterize poverty, and not inequality, as the real catalyst of disorder in society. In this way Fourerism is not a critical attack against existing socio-economic processes but a sort of Platonic idealization of what should but cannot be. I say 'cannot be' because several attempts have been made to develop the kind of intentional community that Fourier's thought seems to lead one towards. Unsurprisingly the majority of these communities have popped up in the States (examples being Utopia, Ohio and Hawthorne's Brook Farm), where the lack of a strong left-wing presence makes the sort of reactionary establishment of 'intentional communities' seem attractive.