Chapter six

CHAPTER SIX
OUTLINE

I.Erich Fromm

A.The Life of Fromm

1.Fromm was born into an Orthodox Jewish family in Frankfurt, Germany. Fromm was greatly influenced by his Jewish tradition of reason and intellect and by the emotional difficulties of being a member of a minority group. Fromm later became an atheistic mystic. Fromm was astonished at the hatred and fanaticism of the people of Germany as they prepared for World War One. Fromm could not understand how his own relatives were so irrationally swept up into hysterical fanaticism. Fromm developed a need to understand the causes of irrationality in people. Fromm studied psychology, sociology, and philosophy. Fromm married his own analyst, who was ten years older. Fromm was critical of Freud for his refusal to admit the impact of socioeconomic forces on personality. Fromm immigrated to the United States in 1934 where he met Karen Horney. After working with Horney, Fromm divorced his wife and began a long affair with Horney. Fromm taught at Columbia and Yale, where he published several books and taught. Later, from established the department of psychology at the medical school of the National University of Mexico. Fromm was active in the peace movement of the 1960’s, was opposed to the Cold War, the nuclear arms race and the Vietnam War. He died in 1980.

B.Freedom or Security: The Basic Human Dilemma

1.Fromm believed people now have greater freedom than any other era, and yet; feel more lonely, alienated, and insignificant than people did in centuries past. Fromm argued that people are conscious beings, free of the instinctive biological mechanisms that guide animal behavior. Although we have transcended nature, we are left with a sense of isolation and feel alienated from nature. We fill this void by identifying with tribes, share myths, and attain security within a group. This “membership” gives us acceptance, affiliation, and a custom of rules.

2.Fromm described the Middle Ages as the last era of stability. The feudal system gave every person a determined place and role in life. The social upheavals of the Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation destroyed this stability. However, this gave people more control over their personal lives. This could also mean another era of people who were beset by feelings of insecurity, insignificance, and doubts about the meaning of life.

3.Fromm proposed three psychic mechanisms for escaping from the negative aspects of freedom. Authoritarianism involves some form of continuing interaction with an object or person and can be manifested in either masochistic or sadistic strivings. By contrast, destructiveness aims at eliminating that object or person. Fromm saw evidence of this destructiveness in all societies. The most socially significant escape mechanism is automaton conformity. We ease our loneliness and isolation by striving to become exactly like everyone else.

C.Personality Development in Childhood

1.Fromm believed we grow to become free and independent. However, an infant or young child has little freedom and are secure in their dependent relationships. As children attempt to become mature, they become more independent, but may feel some isolation and helplessness. Children will attempt to regain this security of infancy and escape their growing freedom. Fromm describes three forms of interpersonal relatedness between a parent and a child. The child may be lonely or insecure and may never achieve independence in a symbiotic relationship with their parent(s). A distance and separation from others characterizes the withdrawal-destructiveness interaction between the child and parent(s). Love becomes the most desirable parent-child interaction. A child’s positive personality is formed by offering respect and a balance of security and responsibility through this kind of relationship. Fromm differed with Freud on the notion a child’s personality is fixed by the end of five years of life. Later events in life can also influence personality.

D.The Basic Psychological Needs

1.Fromm outlined six basic psychological needs to gain security and escape loneliness. The opposition of these drives determines all human cravings. The need for relatedness arises from the disruption of our primary ties with nature. The ideal way to create new relationships is through productive love, which involves caring, responsibility, respect, and knowledge. Transcendence refers to the need to rise above a passive animal state, a state in which we cannot be satisfied because of our capacity for reason and imagination. The need for rootedness arises out of our primary ties with nature, according to Fromm. Feelings of kinship are the most satisfying kind of roots we can develop. Fromm believed we need a sense of identity, even if this identity is part of conforming to a group for a greater sense of shared identity. According to Fromm, we must develop a consistent and coherent view of our environment within which to perceive and understand our world. This is called a need for a framework of orientation. In addition, we need an object of devotion or an ultimate goal or an object to which we are devoted and through which we can find meaning and a sense of direction. The need for excitation and stimulation refers to the drive for a stimulating external environment in which we can function at a peak of alertness and activity.

E.The Productive and Nonproductive Character Types

1.According to Fromm, there are four nonproductive orientations that are unhealthy ways of relating to the world. The person with (A) receptive character expects to get whatever they want. This receptive character is similar to Freud’s oral incorporative personality and Horney’s compliant personality type. The (B) exploitative character type only wants to belong and is valued by others, whether it is a spouse, an object, or an idea. This type is similar to Freud’s oral aggressive type. In the (C) hoarding type, the person derives security from what he or she can hoard and save. This parallels Freud’s anal retentive type and Horney’s detached type (moving away from people). The (D) marketing character type develops through capitalist societies, according to Fromm. This type has a set of values the same for personalities as for goods; one’s personality becomes simply a commodity to be sold.

2.Fromm also outlined other productive and non-productive types, of which several of these types could be combined. The (A) productive character type is the ideal and represents the ultimate goal of human development. The (B) necrophilous character type (a nonproductive orientation) is attracted to death, corpses, decay, feces, and dirt. These types may also have a passion for technology and tend to surround themselves with appliances, computers, and stereos just to manipulate them. The opposite productive type would be (C) biophilous. These people are in love with life and are attracted to growth, creation, and construction. The (D) having character type is defined by what the person owns and possesses. This could mean the idea of owning people and even ideas. Fromm believed that this character type was similar to Freud’s anal retentive personality. (E) Being types are not as competitive as the having types and participate in life, experience living in the present, and being at one with their self and society. Fromm also proposed an ideal society, which he called humanistic communitarian socialism; where love brotherhood, and solidarity characterize all human relationships.

F.Assessment in Fromm’s Theory

1.Fromm wrote little about his assessment techniques. He may have focused on those comments from his patients that supported his theories. Fromm used a form of free association and considered dream analysis an important therapeutic tool. Fromm also developed a questionnaire which included items which would assess the various character types.

G.Research in Fromm’s Theory

1.Although Fromm affirmed the use of the case study as a research method, we do not have many records to verify Fromm’s clinical observations. Fromm did admit that his results could not be tested by experimental or correlational methods, but could be tested by repeated analyses. A number of research studies support Fromm’s contention that relatedness is a basic human need and that this is a requisite for subjective well-being. Fromm, (later in his career); found some evidence for the productive orientation and for some of his personal characteristics, such as receptive, hoarding, exploitative, and productive.