Principles and Practices of Community-based Education: The Lessons of Two French Phalansteries

Concerned about moving from theory to material realisation, Charles Fourier and adepts of community-based schooling were contemplating, in the first half of the 19th century, the conditions which would give life to phalansteries. They thought that a possible path was that of phalansterions, medium-sized communities. However, in 1867, Just Muiron observed their limited success. Only two experiments retained his attention: the Maison Rurale de Ry and the Familistere de Guise. If the way these two phalansteries were run differed greatly, several common features highlighted the conditions for greater success from an educational point of view: the decisive action of bourgeois notables who adhered to fourieriste ideas, but, held at the same time, on the margins of community-based schooling; establishing them in rural market towns open to social change; experimenting, under the aegis of qualified adults, with a pedagogy which, in particular via the experience of work, gave prominence to practical apprenticeship.