Exercising your critical thinking:

What are the appeals or strengths of this idea?

The idea of people sharing the same talents and passions living together is a very smart and productive idea.  Because there is a concentration of jobs and various talents, more work can get done, therefore increasing the production of those workers.  The economy will be more stable because everyone is working together, producing more, and sharing so provisions will not be wasted and squandered.  With concentration of jobs, the economy would be stronger and production would be more sufficient.

What works against this idea?

The fact that people have to share would be a negative for Fourierism.  While sharing is appealing so some people, for most, sharing is unheard of and greed overrules their mind.  Many would not enjoy living in a phalanx with people of different socioeconomic classes and also would not enjoy being forced to live in specific places due to their job.  Along with shared living, the shared economy would also throw people off.  Though different individuals are rewarded differently by their work and job, the fact that they have to share and work together would stunt them becoming stronger individually and starting a separate business.  Many people would want to start their own businesses so they could profit more, therefore, getting more money.  Greed is the main reason many would disagree with the idea of sharing in Fourierism.  Fourierism is run by sharing and uniting and because of greed, many people would disagree with this and not support the socialist idea of Charles Fourier.

What traces of this idea can we identify in 21^st century  US life?

Fourierism is a socialist based belief while in present day, we live in a democracy.  Because of this, there is obvious reasons to why Fourierism will not work; it is socialist based.  In US life, we see that there is no shared living and there is no uniting by talents and jobs.  Instead, there are separate doctors and businesses who are run individually so more profit is gained.  The only aspect of Fourierism that exists in present day USA, is the fact that being different is encouraged and there are schools that are offered to hone the skills and talents of individuals.    Being different and being yourself is encouraged in today's world and that is why many people are happy.    Freedom of Expression is a main idea in both Fourierism and 21st Century US and that is a main reason to why happiness is apparent in both societies.    The only reason Fourier's socialist ideas would not work in the US is because greed is over taking the population.    Greed is the factor that causes corruption within our country.    Even our leader, the President, was influenced by greed of power which is why war is now ongoing.    Greed is a factor that we as people need to rid ourselves from because soon, social communication and unity will be very rare.