- Record: found
- Abstract: found
- Article: found
19th-CENTURY LABOR MONEY SCHEMES, SELF-REALIZATION THROUGH LABOR, AND THE UTOPIAN IDEA
Abstract
In 19th-century European socialist political economic theory, the money system was widely viewed by reformers as the root of social evil. Robert Owen (1771-1858) and Joseph Proudhon (1809-1865), among others, proposed replacing existing money systems with a currency based on labor time instead. This type of social scheme, which tried to reform both social labor and economic relations by introducing equitable labor exchange, was called "labor money" and became popular among 19th-century European Utopian socialists. Often, equitable labor exchange programs were joined with the idea of self-realization through work in proposals for Utopian communities. While the "labor money" concept has only enjoyed modest intellectual, political, or economic life over the last 150 years, the idea is revived periodically by those seeking a more cooperative way of life. In the 1980s Dr. Edgar Cahn wrote a book proposing "time dollar" exchange programs and a labor credit system is at the heart of the United States' most successful secular intentional community, Twin Oaks Community, Louisa, Virginia.
Content
Author and article information
References
Beecher, J. (1986) Charles Fourier: The Visionary and His World. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Bouvard, M. (1975) The Intentional Community Movement. Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press.
Carpenter, K. D., advisory editor (1972) Cooperative Communities: Plans and Descriptions (Eleven Pamphlets: 1825-47). New York: Arno Press.
Cole, M. (1966) Life of Robert Owen. Hamden, CT: Archon Press, 3rd ed.
Fine, G. A., and T. Hallett (2003) "Dust: A Study in Sociological Miniaturism," The Sociological Quarterly 44: 1-15.
Freedman, R., ed. (1968) Marxist Social Thought. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World.
French, D., and E. French (1975) Working Communally. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Garnett, R. G. (1972) Co-operation and the Owenite Socialist Communities in Britain: 1825-45. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Gide, C. (1930) Communist and Cooperative Colonies. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., Publishers. Reprinted: New York: AMS Press, Inc. 1974.
Hauhart, R. (2003) "Labor Money" Idea Timelier than Ever. Bangor, ME: Bangor Daily News.
Higgins, L. W. (1979) "Not Yet Utopia: A Study of Twin Oaks Community." Unpublished PhD Dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia.
Hupfel, M. M. (2001) "Community Through the Looking Glass: The Quest for Utopia." Unpublished MA Thesis, University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Holloway, M. (1951) Heavens on Earth. London: Turnstile Press, Ltd. Reprinted: New York: Dover Publications, 1966.
Jones, L. (1890) The Life, Times, and Labours of Robert Owen (2 Vols.) London: Swan, Sonnenschein & Co. Reprinted: New York: AMS Press, Inc., 1971.
Kanter, R. M. (1972) Commitment and Community: Communes and Utopias in Sociological Perspective. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
--- (1973) Communes: Creating and Managing the Collective Life. New York: Harper and Row.
Kinkade, K. (1973) A Waiden Two Experiment. New York: Quill.
--- (1994) Is it Utopia Yet? Louisa, VA: Twin Oaks Publishing.
Komar, I. (1989) Living the Dream: A Documentary Study of Twin Oaks Community. Louisa, Virginia: Twin Oaks Publishing. Reprinted: Norwood, PA: Norwood Editions, 1983.
Kuhlmann, H. (1999/2000) "The Reception of Waiden Two in Intentional Communities in the United States." Unpublished PhD Dissertation, Albert-Ludvigs-Universitat, Freiburg, Germany.
Lockwood, G. (1905) The New Harmony Movement. New York: D. Appleton and Company. Reprinted: New York: AMS Press, Inc., 1971.
Marx, K. (1973) Grundrisse: Foundations of the Critique of Political Economy. New York: Vintage Books.
Noyes, P. (1937) My Father 's House. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, Inc.
Oxford English Dictionary, Compact Edition (1971) Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Poldervaart, S., H. Jansen and B. Kessler, eds. (2001) Contemporary Utopian Struggles : Communities Between Modernism and Postmodernism. Amsterdam: Aksant Academic Publishers.
Riasanovsky, N. V. (1969) The Teaching of Charles Fourier. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Rosolio, D. (2003) "The Transformation of the Kibbutz: From a Classless Society to a Class Society," in Poldervaart et al., eds., Contemporary Utopian Struggles: Communities Between Modernism and Postmodernism. Amsterdam: Aksant Academic Publishers.
Simpson, G., ed. (1963) Emile Durkheim: Selections from his Work. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company.
Skinner, B. F. (1948) Waiden Two. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
Swan, N. L. (1935) "The North American Phalanx," Monmouth County Historical Association Bulletin (Freehold, NJ): 50-59. Reprinted: Kanter (1973) Communes: Creating and Managing the Collective Life, pp. 257-263.
Thimbleby, J. (1832) Monodelphia, or The Formation of a New System of Society without the Intervention of a Circulating Medium. London: Barnett. Reprinted: New York: Arno Press, 1972.
Tucker, R. C., ed. (1972) The Marx-Engels Reader. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, Inc.
Valles, S. P. (2003) "Why Teamwork Fails: Obstacles to Workplace Changes in Four Manufacturing Plants," American Sociological Review 68: 232-250.
Zablocki, B. (1971) The Joyful Community. Baltimore: Penguin Books.