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Fourier's fantastic and minutely detailed descriptions of his utopian society, a world re-ordered to make the satisfaction and reproduction of human 'passions' central, was also a critique of the early industrial capitalism of his time. It later influenced Marx and Engels, Walter Benjamin, Andre Breton's Surrealism and the Situationist theories of Debord and Vaneigem.

Charles Fourier was an early utopian socialist who influenced many later theorists including Marx & Engels and the Situationists. His imaginative - and often amusing - visions of future communities are discussed here; including arrangements of collective working, education and sexual relations. “What Fourier proposed was a new amorous order, in which marriage would be abolished, child care and housework collectivized, and a “sexual minimum” the right of all.” The author speculat...