phalanstery (n.)

1846 (in French form from 1844), "building or buildings occupied by a community living together and having goods and property in common," from French phalanstère, the name for one of the socialistic communities of 1,800 or so people, living together as family, proposed as the basic unit of society in the system of French social scientist François-Marie-Charles Fourier (1772-1837), coined by Fourier from phalange, properly "phalanx" (see phalanx) + ending after monastère "monastery." Transferred use, in reference to the groups themselves, is by 1850. Related: Phalansterial; phalansterian.