John Stuart Mill and Fourierism: ‘association’, ‘friendly rivalry’ and distributive justice

McCabe, Helen

Abstract

John Stuart Mill’s self-description as ‘under the general designation of Socialist’ has been under-explored. It is an important feature of something else often overlooked: the importance of the French context of Mill’s thought. This article focuses on the role of Fourierism in the development of Mill’s ideas, exploring the links to Fourierism in Mill’s writing on profit-sharing; his use of the words ‘association’ and ‘friendly rivalry’; and his views concerning distributive justice. It then reconsiders his assessment of Fourierism as a desirable, workable and immediately implementable form of social reform, ultimately arguing it was Mill’s most-preferred form of ‘utopian’ socialism.

Citation

McCabe, H. (2018). John Stuart Mill and Fourierism: ‘association’, ‘friendly rivalry’ and distributive justice. Global Intellectual History, 4(1), 35-61. https://doi.org/10.1080/23801883.2018.1435983

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 31, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Feb 6, 2018
• Publication Date: Feb 6, 2018
• Deposit Date: Sep 15, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 7, 2019
• Journal: Global Intellectual History
• Electronic ISSN: 2380-1891
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 4
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 35-61
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/23801883.2018.1435983
• Keywords: John Stuart Mill; Charles Fourier; Victor Considerant; utopian socialism; friendly rivalry; association; profit-sharing.
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/909819
• Publisher URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23801883.2018.1435983
• Additional Information: This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Global Intellectual History on 06.02.2018, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/23801883.2018.1435983