Phalanstère

Phalanstère

A phalanstère was a type of building designed for a utopian community and developed in the early 1800s by Charles Fourier. Based on the idea of a phalanx, this self-contained community consisted of 1,600 people working together for mutual benefit. Though Fourier was able to publish several journals in Paris, among them "La Phalanstère", he created no phalanstères in Europe due to a lack of financial support. Several so-called colonies were founded in the United States of America by Albert Brisbane and Horace Greeley.

Living arrangements were fundamentally different in these, because Fourier believed that the house was a place of exile and oppressive towards women. His attitude toward gender roles was that progress could occur by shaping them within community, as they were in Kibbutzim, more than by pursuits of sexual freedom or other Simonian concepts. [http://www.languages.ttu.edu/faculty/snell/HistoryFranceFeminism.htm]

The phalanstère structure

Charles Fourier conceived the phalanstère as an organized building designed to integrate urban and rural features.

The structure of the phalanstère was composed by 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 its ballrooms and halls for meetings with outsiders. The outsiders had to pay a fee in order to visit and meet the people of the Phalanx community. This income was thought to sustain the autarchic economy of the phalanstère. The phalanstère also included private apartments and many social halls. A social hall was defined by Fourier as a Seristery.

Fourier's successor Victor Considérant compared the idea of the phalanstère to a steamship, asking whether it was "easier to house 1800 men right in the middle of the ocean, six hundred leagues from every shore,...than to house in a unitary construction some 1800 good peasants in the heart of Champagne or firmly on the soil of Beauce?"

This idea would be rediscovered by Le Corbusier when he designed Unité d'Habitation, a self-contained commune, at Marseilles.

See also

*Feminism in France


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  • phalanstère — [ falɑ̃stɛr ] n. m. • 1822; de phalange « groupement » et (mona)stère ♦ Didact. Dans le système de Fourier, Communauté, association de travailleurs; domaine où vit et travaille cette communauté (appelée aussi phalange). ♢ Fig. Groupe qui vit en… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Phalanstere — Phalanstère Vue perspective d un phalanstère …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Phalanstère — (franz., spr. falangstǟr ), nach dem System des Sozialisten Fourier (s. d. 2) gemeinschaftlicher Wohnort und Arbeitsanstalt für eine Phalanx, d.h. eine Gesamtheit von etwa 400 Familien. Eine dem P. nachgebildete Anstalt ist das vom Fabrikanten… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Phalanstère — (frz., spr. angstähr), s. Fourier, Charles …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

  • Phalanstère — Phalanstère, frz., bei Fourier die Wohn u. Arbeitsanstalt für eine Phalanx d.h. 400 Familien; s. Fourier …   Herders Conversations-Lexikon

  • Phalanstère — Vue perspective d un phalanstère Carte postale : Gui …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Phalanstere — Das Phalanstère oder Phalansterium ist eine von dem frühsozialistischen französischen Theoretiker, Reformer und Utopisten Charles Fourier (1772 1836) erdachte landwirtschaftliche oder industrielle Produktions und Wohngenossenschaft für eine in… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Phalanstère — Das Phalanstère oder Phalansterium ist eine von dem frühsozialistischen französischen Theoretiker, Reformer und Utopisten Charles Fourier (1772–1836) erdachte landwirtschaftliche oder industrielle Produktions und Wohngenossenschaft für eine in… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • PHALANSTÈRE — n. m. Lieu où habiterait la commune sociétaire telle que l’avait imaginée le philosophe utopiste Fourier. Quelques essais de phalanstères ont été tentés, mais ils ont toujours échoué. Il se dit, par extension, d’une Maison où habitent de… …   Dictionnaire de l'Academie Francaise, 8eme edition (1935)

  • phalanstère — (fa lan stè r ) s. m. Habitation de la commune sociétaire régie par le système de Fourier ou de la phalange. ÉTYMOLOGIE    Phalange …   Dictionnaire de la Langue Française d'Émile Littré

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