Erich Fromm

Erich Seligmann Fromm
Born	March 23rd, 1900 Frankfurt, Germany
Died	March 18th, 1980 Muralto, Switzerland

Erich Fromm was a Jewish-Statesian humanistic psychologist born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, on March 23, 1900. He is best known for being a key member of the CIA-funded Frankfurt School and his psychological framework of reformist humanistic psychology, which attempted to blend the theories of the idealist Sigmund Freud and Karl Marx. He was deeply influenced by Sigmund Freud, specifically Freud's view on primal urges and the unconscious, which became his foundation.

Erich Fromm substitutes class struggle with therapy. In reformist fashion, he bastardizes socialism into a spiritual therapeutic project rather than abolishing class rule. He maliciously acts as a diversion for baby leftists to channel them to petty-bourgeois politics.

Psychology

Preface

Erich Fromm was associated with the ultra-leftist Socialist Party of America, and his habit of seeking reforms within bourgeois institutions reflected his insistence on reducing class struggle in favor of individual responsibility and moral appeals. He dismissed Lenin and the revolutionary party as elitist, as opposed to his own guide to the creation of a new man through self-improvement and through that, to change the structure of society.

Core

Fromm believed that in order to fundamentally comprehend the human mind, one cannot just observe the biological and instinctive drives of men like Freud, nor the economic and societal structures like Marx, but rather must do so through self-awareness; and so, through his humanistic psychology, one either develops one's authentic self or escapes "freedom."

Burden of Freedom

In 1941, Erich Fromm wrote Escape from Freedom and argued that the working class during feudalism lacked personal freedom and was being exploited, yet had a sense of belonging, e.g., through class, guild, and religion. Fromm states that capitalism has freed us from feudal structures, but it has stripped us of our sense of belonging; to deal with this, we use four mechanisms:

• Automaton conformity: This is a mechanism that allows us to escape our isolation by adopting the personality, cultural norms, and beliefs that are the norm at the time. Fromm states that we become a sort of psychological chameleon.

• Authoritarianism: We either masochistically submit to a higher power, and are thus naturally drawn to authority figures and authoritarian structures to which we can either submit or sadistically need to exert control over others.

• Destruction: As we feel powerless, we attempt to overcome this threat by destroying it and eliminating the things that make us feel that way.

According to Fromm, these are the things the working class does in order to console itself for the "freedom" capitalism has provided, alongside the loss of belonging.

Character Orientations

Fromm argues that society shapes us into social characters through six types of character orientations:

• Marketing Character: In capitalism, individuals view themselves as commodities to be bought and sold; their value is determined not by human quality but by exchange value, and they constantly change their personalities to appease these trends.

• Receptive Character: These individuals believe that all good exists outside of themselves and thus passively expect to be given everything that is "good."

• Exploitative Character: Similar to the receptive character, this type believes that all good is outside themselves but uses force and cunning to take it from others.

• Hoarding Character: This type hoards money, feelings, and thoughts, as they view the outside world as a threat and find security in saving and keeping.

• Productive Character: This type uses their creativity, love, and reason without exploiting, hoarding, or selling.

Existential Needs

Fromm argued that human behaviour stemmed from existential needs, which our self-awareness creates so as to keep us sane in the face of mortality:

• Relatedness: We need to unite with other living beings in a loving and affectionate manner rather than a submissive or dominant stance.

• Transcendence: We have an urge to rise above our existence through the creation of anything.

• Rootedness: We crave a sense of belongingness to the world, ideally through a love for all of humankind as opposed to nationalism or tribalism.

• Sense of Identity: We have to be aware of ourselves as a distinct entity rather than having a group or corporation slap an identity onto us.

• Frame of Orientation: We require a mental map or worldview to make sense of the universe, along with a goal that we are striving for.