A ''phalanstère'' (or phalanstery) was a type of building designed for a self-contained utopian community, ideally consisting of 500–2,000 people working together for mutual benefit, and developed in the early 19th century by

Charles Fourier François Marie Charles Fourier (; ; 7 April 1772 – 10 October 1837) was a French philosopher, an influential early socialist thinker, and one of the founders of utopian socialism. Some of his views, held to be radical in his lifetime, have be ...

. Fourier chose the name by combining the French word ''phalange'' (

phalanx The phalanx (: phalanxes or phalanges) was a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, sarissas, or similar polearms tightly packed together. The term is particularly used t ...

, an emblematic military unit in ancient Greece) with the word ''monastère'' (

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

Structure

Fourier conceived the ''phalanstère'' as an organized building designed to integrate urban and rural features. The structure of the ''phalanstère'' was composed of three parts: a central part and two lateral wings. The central part was designed for quiet activities. It included dining rooms, meeting rooms, libraries and studies. A lateral wing was designed for labour and noisy activities, such as carpentry, hammering and forging. It also hosted children because they were considered noisy while playing. The other wing contained a caravansary, with ballrooms and halls for meetings with outsiders who had to pay a fee to visit and meet the people of the Phalanx community. This income was thought to sustain the autonomous economy of the ''phalanstère''. The ''phalanstère'' also included private apartments and many social halls. A social hall was defined by Fourier as a ''seristère''.

In France and the United States

Though Fourier published several journals in Paris, among them ''Le Phalanstère'', he created no ''phalanstères'' in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

due to a lack of financial support. Several so-called

colonies A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their '' metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often or ...

were founded in the

United States of America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguo ...

by Albert Brisbane and

Horace Greeley Horace Greeley (February 3, 1811 – November 29, 1872) was an American newspaper editor and publisher who was the founder and newspaper editor, editor of the ''New-York Tribune''. Long active in politics, he served briefly as a congres ...

Examples

* La Colonie of

Condé-sur-Vesgre Condé-sur-Vesgre () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. See also *Communes of the Yvelines department A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comun� ...

(1832) * Phalanstery of Scăieni, Wallachia (1834) * La Réunion in Dallas (1855) * Familistère of Guise (1859) *Familistère of Godin (1887) * Longo Maï Co-operatives (1973) * Uranian Phalanstery (1974)

Gender roles

Fourier believed that the traditional house was a place of exile and oppression of women. He believed gender roles could progress by shaping them within community, more than by pursuits of sexual freedom or other Simonian concepts.

Legacy

In ''

The Conquest of Bread ''The Conquest of Bread'' is an 1892 book by the Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin. Originally written in French, it first appeared as a series of articles in the anarchist journal ''Le Révolté''. It was first published in Paris with a pref ...

'',

Peter Kropotkin Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist and geographer known as a proponent of anarchist communism. Born into an aristocratic land-owning family, Kropotkin attended the Page Corps and later s ...

critiques the concept as "repugnant to millions of human beings ... Isolation, alternating with time spent in society, is the normal desire of human nature." Kropotkin instead advocates for individual apartments with access to communal labour-saving machinery, thereby freeing women from domestic drudgery: In the 20th century, the architect

Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , ; ), was a Swiss-French architectural designer, painter, urban planner and writer, who was one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture ...

adapted the concept of the ''phalanstère'' when he designed the ''

Unité d'Habitation The ''Unité d'habitation'' (, ''Housing Unit'') is a Modern architecture, modernist residential housing Typology (urban planning and architecture), typology developed by Le Corbusier, with the collaboration of painter-architect Nadir Afons ...

'', a self-contained commune, at

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

In 19th century publications

In the Hungarian play '' The Tragedy of Man'', first published in 1861 by

Imre Madách Imre Madách de Sztregova et Kelecsény (20 January 1823 – 5 October 1864) was a Hungarian people, Hungarian aristocrat, writer, poet, lawyer and politician. His major work is ''The Tragedy of Man'' (''Az ember tragédiája'', 1861). It is a dr ...

, one of the later scenes takes place in a phalanstery, in a utopian future where the entirety of humanity lives in phalansteries. There are no borders, no nations, and civilization is dominated by science. However, there is no individuality or creativity, emotions are considered an irregularity, and humans are branded with numbers. Four thousand years later, the

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

is dead and Mankind spiritually died along with it in its pursuit of survival. The residents of

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

live in a phalanstère in the Ecuadorian

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

story ''A Voyage to Saturn'' by Francisco Campos Coello, published in 1900. In

Henri Murger Louis-Henri Murger (27 March 1822 – 28 January 1861), also known as Henri Murger and Henry Murger, was a French novelist and poet. He is chiefly distinguished as the author of the 1847-1849 book '' Scènes de la vie de bohème'' (''Scenes ...

's 1851 work ''

Scenes of Bohemian Life ''Scenes of Bohemian Life'' (original French title: ) is a work by Henri Murger, published in 1851. Although it is commonly called a novel, it does not follow standard novel form. Rather, it is a collection of loosely related stories, all set i ...

'', the source of

Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Puccini (22 December 1858 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for List of compositions by Giacomo Puccini#Operas, his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he ...

's opera ''

La Bohème ''La bohème'' ( , ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions '':wikt:quadro, quadri'', ''wikt:tableau, tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto b ...

'' and other musical works, Rodolphe meets a young man described as a phalansterian as he is scouring the streets of Paris to borrow five francs in order to entertain a young woman he plans to make his mistress. The Phalanstères are mentioned several times in

Gustave Flaubert Gustave Flaubert ( , ; ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. He has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country and abroad. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flaubert, realis ...

's 1869 novel ''

Sentimental Education ''Sentimental Education'' (French: ''L'éducation sentimentale'') is an 1869 novel by Gustave Flaubert. The story focuses on the romantic life of a young man named Frédéric Moreau at the time of the French Revolution of 1848 and the founding o ...

'': for example, among a list of utopian projects: "plans of phalansteria, projects for cantonal bazaars, systems of public felicity." They are mentioned in

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was an English textile designer, poet, artist, writer, and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts movement. He was a major contributor to the revival of traditiona ...

' ''

News from Nowhere ''News from Nowhere'' is an 1890 classic work combining utopian socialism and soft science fiction written by the artist, designer and socialist pioneer William Morris. It was first published in serial form in the ''Commonweal (UK), Commonwea ...

'', first published in 1890, with the spelling "phalangsteries."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phalanstere Architecture related to utopias Feminism in France Fourierism Utopian communities Utopian socialism Proposed arcologies