Erich Fromm
Also known as Erich Seligmann Fromm
German-American psychoanalyst and social philosopher (1900 to 1980); wrote Escape from Freedom.
At a glance
Main ideas
Escape mechanisms, Character orientations, Love is an art …
See all 5Criticism
Herbert Marcuse
Books to start with
Escape from Freedom, Man for Himself, The Sane Society …
See all 4Connections
Also on this page: Key facts · Links · Sources · Related pages
- Fromm was a psychoanalyst, sociologist and humanistic philosopher who fled the Nazis and settled in the United States.
- He was associated with the Frankfurt School and belonged to the neo-Freudian school with Karen Horney and Harry Stack Sullivan.
- Escape from Freedom (1941) asked why people give up freedom for authority.
- The Art of Loving (1956), his most popular book, treats love as a capacity to be practised rather than a feeling.
Why it matters
- His account of why people flee from freedom into conformity and authoritarianism is a founding text of political psychology and still reads as current.
Key facts
- Born
- 23 Mar 1900, Frankfurt am Main1
- Died
- 18 Mar 1980, at his home in Muralto, Switzerland1
- Education
- PhD in sociology, University of Heidelberg (1922); psychoanalytic training in the 1920s1
- Institutes
- Frankfurt Institute for Social Research from 1930; co-founded the William Alanson White Institute in New York in 19461
- Teaching
- Bennington College from 1941 to 1949; New School from 1941 to 1959; UNAM in Mexico City from 1949 to 1965; Michigan State from 1957 to 19611
- Co-founded
- International Federation of Psychoanalytic Societies (1962); the anti-nuclear group SANE1
- Honour
- Humanist of the Year, American Humanist Association (1966)1
Main ideas
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Escape mechanisms1
People escape freedom through authoritarianism, destructiveness and automaton conformity.
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Character orientations1
Four non-productive orientations (receptive, exploitative, hoarding, marketing) and one productive one.
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Love is an art1
Love is a creative capacity with care, responsibility, respect and knowledge, not just falling in love.
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Biophilia1
A productive orientation of love for life, humanity and nature.
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Humanist socialism1
In The Sane Society he argued for a democratic socialism, against both Western capitalism and Soviet communism.
Criticism
Books to start with
The line under a date fills as it gets older: empty when new, full at 2 years.
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Why people give up freedom for authority; published in Britain as The Fear of Freedom.
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Man for Himself1
An inquiry into the psychology of ethics.
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The Sane Society1
The case for humanistic, democratic socialism.
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The Art of Loving1
His most popular book, an international bestseller.
Connections
Writes
Links
Sources
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