The present theoretical essay presents the views of selected authors from distinct historical periods, about human beings and their social relations and indicates how some of theses views help to explain and legitimate the existence and the development of the capitalist way of production, while others raise possibilities for social transformation. It presents the idealizations of social models of Plato in "The Republic", Thomas More in "The Utopia", and the "utopian socialists" Saint-Simon, Owen and Fourier. The comprehension of the different concepts of man and of the social projects based on them can enrich and historically locate researches on the current configuration of the world of labor and the situation of workers.
concepts of man; human nature; utopia; Sociology of Labor; Psychology of Work