This remarkable book, written soon after the French Revolution, has traditionally been considered one of the founding documents in the history of socialism. It introduces the best-known and most extraordinary utopia written in the last two centuries. Charles Fourier was among the first to formulate a right to a minimum standard of life. His radical approach involved a systematic critique of work, marriage and patriarchy, together with a parallel right to a sexual minimum. He also proposed a comprehensive alternative to the Christian religion. Finally, through the medium of a bizarre and extraordinary cosmology, Fourier argued that the poor state of the planet is the result of the evil practices of civilisation. Translated into English, this classic text will be of particular interest to students and scholars of the history of sexuality and feminism, political thought and socialism.

This is a full-scale intellectual biography of the French utopian socialist thinker, Chales Fourier (1772 - 1837), one of the great social critics of the nineteenth century. It is certain to become an invaluable resource for all students of modern European intellectual history. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1986.

The utopian socialism of Charles Fourier spread throughout Europe in the mid-nineteenth century, but it was in the United States that it generated the most intense excitement. In this rich and engaging narrative, Carl J. Guarneri traces the American Fourierist movement from its roots in the religious, social, and economic upheavals of the 1830s, through its bold communal experiments of the 1840s, to its lingering twilight after the Civil War.

This study explores the meanings ascribed to sexual difference in the theories of Charles Fourier, the Saint-Simonians and Flora Tristan. Their concept of 'the feminine' as a moral force justified a wide range of social roles for women. In addition, 'the feminine' became a symbol of the harmony and co-operation envisaged for the future. The study shows that, while these socialists challenged contemporary sex-role definitions, the new distinctions which they created nevertheless circumscribed the possibilities for female 'liberty'.

A fascinating exploration of the urbanism at the heart of Utopian thinking The vision of Utopia obsessed the nineteenth-century mind, shaping art, literature, and especially town planning. In City of Refuge, Michael Lewis takes readers across centuries and continents to show how Utopian town planning produced a distinctive type of settlement characterized by its square plan, collective ownership of properties, and communal dormitories. Some of these settlements were sanctuaries from religious persecution, like those of the German Rappites, French Huguenots, and American Shakers, while others were sanctuaries from the Industrial Revolution, like those imagined by Charles Fourier, Robert Owen, and other Utopian visionaries. Because of their differences in ideology and theology, these settlements have traditionally been viewed separately, but Lewis shows how they are part of a continuous intellectual tradition that stretches from the early Protestant Reformation into modern times. Through close readings of architectural plans and archival documents, many previously unpublished, he shows the network of connections between these seemingly disparate Utopian settlements—including even such well-known town plans as those of New Haven and Philadelphia. The most remarkable aspect of the city of refuge is the inventive way it fused its eclectic sources, ranging from the encampments of the ancient Israelites as described in the Bible to the detailed social program of Thomas More's Utopia to modern thought about education, science, and technology. Delving into the historical evolution and antecedents of Utopian towns and cities, City of Refuge alters notions of what a Utopian community can and should be.

The Cooperativism and Democracy, edited by Bartłomiej Błesznowski is not purely a scientific book, but rather a guide which shows how scholars and activists wrote about the community, social participation and the politics in Poland in the early 20th century. The book contains a selection of texts in socio-political thought, led by the work of one of most important Polish thinkers – Edward Abramowski, socialist, philosopher and psychologist. Polish cooperativism can be inspiring to both contemporary researchers and political activists in Europe post the economic crisis, which brought about a crisis of faith in political and economic institutions. These works have a chance to become a significant voice in the debate over the relationship of contemporary economics and politics. Contributors are: Edward Abramowski, Fr. Stanisław Adamski, Bartłomiej Błesznowski, Zygmunt Chmielewski, Zofia Daszyńska-Golińska, Maria Dąbrowska, Jan Hempel, Jerzy Kurnatowski, Romuald Mielzarski, Remigiusz Okraska, Maria Orsetti, Adam Próchnik, Marian Rapacki, Franciszek Stefczyk, Edward Taylor, Stanisław Thugutt, Stanisław Wojciechowski, and Jan Wolski. First published in Polish as Kooperatyzm, spółdzielczość, demokracja. Wybór pism by Wydawnictwo Uniwerstytetu Warszawskiego in 2014. The current work includes an additional chapter ‘Through Cooperatives to the Future Order’ by Zofia Daszyńska-Golińska.