Fourier declared that concern and
cooperation are the keys to social success. He believed that a society that cooperated would see an immense improvement in its productivity. Workers would be recompensed for their labor according to their contribution. Fourier saw such cooperation occurring in communities he called "phalanxes", based upon structures called
Phalanstères or "grand hotels". These buildings were four-level apartment complexes where the richest had the uppermost apartments and the poorest had ground-floor residences. Wealth was determined by one's job; jobs were assigned based on interest and desire. There were incentives: jobs people might not enjoy doing would receive higher pay. Fourier largely emphasized harmony and passion when it came to these communities. He wanted phalansteries to be places where people could not only do the work they liked, but discover and follow their passions. Fourier saw human nature as God-given and something that needed to be discovered. He believed that people are born with certain dispositions towards things. The issue with society was that it did not allow individuals to follow these dispositions. Instead it restrained and misdirected human nature. He believed that a different social arrangement was needed that allowed for the development of basic individual human nature. The development of individual nature would reveal passions, which is what Fourier designed his phalansteries around. Despite Fourier's considerable work into his phalansteries, they were never set up by him. They remained only concepts as he needed funding to set them up, but was never approached with any money to support their development. Fourier considered
trade, which he associated with Jews, the "source of all evil", and advocated that Jews be forced to perform farm work in the phalansteries. By the end of his life, Fourier advocated the return of Jews to Palestine with the assistance of the
Rothschilds.
John K. Roth and
Richard L. Rubenstein see Fourier as motivated by economic and religious antisemitism rather than the
racial antisemitism that emerged later in the century. He used the word "civilization" in a pejorative sense; as such, "Fourier's contempt for the respectable thinkers and ideologies of his age was so intense that he always used the terms philosopher and civilization in a pejorative sense. In his lexicon civilization was a depraved order, a synonym for perfidy and constraint ... Fourier's attack on civilization had qualities not to be found in the writing of any other social critic of his time."
Work and liberated passions For
Herbert Marcuse "The idea of libidinal work relations in a developed industrial society finds little support in the tradition of thought, and where such support is forthcoming it seems of a dangerous nature. The transformation of labor into pleasure is the central idea in Fourier's giant socialist utopia." Fourier believed that there were 12 common passions, which resulted in 810 types of character, so the ideal phalanx would have 1,620 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 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. Anarchist
Hakim Bey describes Fourier's ideas as follows: In Fourier's system of Harmony all creative activity including industry, craft, agriculture, etc. will arise from liberated passion—this is the famous theory of "attractive labor". Fourier sexualizes work itself—the life of the
Phalanstery is a continual orgy of intense feeling, intellection, & activity, a society of lovers & wild enthusiasts.
Women's rights Fourier supported
women's rights. He believed that all important jobs should be open to women on the basis of skill and aptitude rather than closed on account of gender. He spoke of women as individuals, not as half the human couple. Fourier saw that "traditional" marriage could potentially hurt woman's rights as human beings and thus never married. Writing before the advent of the term "homosexuality", he held that both men and women have a wide range of sexual needs and preferences, which may change throughout their lives, including same-sex attraction and
androgénité. He argued that all sexual expressions should be enjoyed as long as people are not abused, and that "affirming one's difference" can actually enhance social integration. Fourier's concern was to liberate every human being, in two senses: through education and by liberating human passion.
Children and education Fourier felt that "civilized" parents and teachers saw children as little idlers. But he himself believed that children as early as age two and three were very industrious. He listed children's dominant tastes as including: • Rummaging or inclination to handle everything, examine everything, look through everything, to constantly change occupations; • Industrial commotion, taste for noisy occupations; • Aping or imitative mania. • Industrial miniature, a taste for miniature workshops. • Progressive attraction of the weak toward the strong. Fourier is best remembered for his writings on a
new world order based on unity of action and harmonious collaboration. and a coincidental view of
climate change, that the
North Pole would be milder than the Mediterranean in a future phase of Perfect Harmony.
Antisemitism Fourier said Jews were "the leprosy and the ruin of the body politic". He criticized the government for being weak and "prostrate" when confronted with what he called a "secret and indissoluble league" of Jews. Post-Medieval antisemitic rhetoric often accused Jews of being unable to assimilate into a unitary national culture (highly valued by the French nationalists). Fourier was one of the writers to argue that Jews were disloyal and would not make good French citizens. Like others, he placed great significance on the religious restrictions prohibiting Jews from eating at the same table as non-Jews: he confined himself to sitting down at table and drinking; he refused to eat any of the dishes, because they were prepared by Christians. Christians have to be very patient to tolerate such impertinence. In the Jewish religion it denotes a system of defiance and aversion for other sects. Now, does a sect which wishes to carry its hatred as far as the table of its protectors, deserve to be protected? == Influence ==