Fourier, Charles (1772-1837): A well-known proponent of utopian socialist ideas (so-called after Marx's distinction between his own "scientific" socialism and the ideas of his predescessors), he was born in Besançon, France and worked as a clerk before publishing his first work, The Social Destiny of Man, or, Theory of the Four Movements (1808). After inheriting his mother's estate in 1812, he devoted himself to working through the details of his ideas in such works as The New Industrial World (1829). He advocated a reorganization of society into self-sufficient units (phalanstères or phalanxes) which would offer a maximum of both cooperation and choice to members. A number of so-called utopian communities in the United States adopted Fourier's principles.