oft-ignored "distributive passions" such as the need for political intrigue, the need for variety, and the pure enthusiasm of spiritual pursuits. The sum of all these passions Fourier called "unityism", characterized as a universal feeling of benevolence and fraternity. Although fettered and mutated by Civilization, the free development of these passions would be allowed in the bright future world, Fourier believed. Stages of society Fourier believed himself the discoverer of the universal laws of societal evolution, theorizing the existence of 32 distinct periods beginning with Edenism and continuing through Savagery, Patriarchate, and Barbarism. Each of these stages was held to have distinctive material and ideological features, with the treatment afforded to women a particular marker of one stage from the next. Of far greater concern to Fourier and his disciples was the current 5th form of society, Modern Society, as well as three emerging forms believed to be just around the corner: 6 (Guarantism), 7 (Simple Association), and 8 (Compound Association). "Modern Society", from the Fourierist perspective, was based upon capital and labor and the buying and selling of goods through a network of useless middlemen. With a sneer, Fourier called contemporary society "Civilization", deeming it the cause of fraud, waste, and human unhappiness. The "isolated family" he deemed inefficient, the wage system demoralizing and exploitative, and organized religion corrupt. An entire book was written detailing 36 types of bankruptcy and 76 sorts of "cuckoldry" to which humanity was subjected by its system of so-called Civilization, which Fourier saw as wholly unacceptable. Fourier believed that, fortunately for humanity, Civilization was a fleeting economic formation, soon to vanish. The emerging socioeconomic structure of "Guarantism" would be based upon the fundamental principle of universal insurance, Fourier believed, which was to guarantee of the security of capital and the right of labor to gainful employment. Petty traders and speculative profiteers would be eliminated from the economy in this new system of organized production and distribution. The next stage in the Fourierist schema, "Simple Association", was to be based upon the cooperative enterprise of like bodies of farmers or artisans or industrial workers as distinct groups. Farmers would associate with other farmers, artisans with other artisans, industrial producers with other industrial producers, producing and selling their goods collectively. Simultaneously, these economic organizations would for the first time include the association of family living and domestic labor, thereby eliminating the economic waste and social isolation