Joshua Burbank

Joshua Burbank

SOC. 390 – Contemporary Social Theory

Dr. Lee Garth Vigilant

Intellectual Biography: Erich Fromm

Although Erich Fromm is categorized more closely to psychology than to the academic field of sociology, his contributions in the forms of writings, teachings and publications have clear sociological implication and wide applicability to both paradigms of thought. In particular, Fromm’s ideas and teachings are most closely aligned with social psychology, an amalgamation of both perspectives, which places emphasis upon the individual interpreting, conceptualizing and navigating the social world within a social context. Fromm focused a great deal of his intellectual interrogation upon the public spheres of ethics, politics and social cohesion through his concepts of the arts of living and loving, the topics of two of his many publications. As we proceed through this brief look at the academic assistance with which Erich Fromm enabled those listening to better understand themselves and the social landscape that surrounds them, and even further his grasp of the individual’s battle with interfacing that landscape, it will become evident that Erich Fromm is not only one of the most gifted of modern social theorists, but one that has been severely neglected and awaiting a resurgence of his thoughts and writings, as well as a new generation of theorists to interact with.

Family, Religion and Education:

Erich Fromm was born in Frankfurt, Germany on the 23^rd of March 1900 as the only child of the orthodox Jewish wine trader Naphtali Fromm and his wife Rosa. Fromm stated in an autobiographical sketch that, “being the only child of two overly anxious parents did not, of course, have an altogether positive effect on my development, but over the years I’ve done what I could to repair the damage. Superficially seen, I can say, my parents were German middle-class Jews. I was an only child; my father was a practicing orthodox Jew quite erudite in all matters pertaining to Jewish matters. But that is really on the surface. I actually would say I grew up in the middle-ages, by which I don’t mean something negative but rather something very positive,” (Fromm 2000:251).

When speaking of religion and its place within his family dynamic, Fromm said that, “the whole family story, so to speak, was that of rabbinical ancestors, who sat the whole day and studied the Talmud and were not the slightest bit interested in making money or in trade, or in anything of that kind. My great grandfather, for instance, happened to be one of the famous Jewish rabbis of his time; he lived in a small town of Bavaria and made his living by owning a small store and sometimes by traveling a little bit and selling his goods. As the story goes, when a customer came in, interrupting him from the study of the Talmud, he showed some annoyance and asked: “Is there any other store here? Why do you have to come to interrupt me?” (Fromm 2000:251). At this point in the examination of Fromm’s life and work, it is quite clear that he is one of many of a long line of theoreticians to have come from Germany and particularly with a Jewish background. Judaism was a prominent aspect of Fromm’s life, as he followed Talmudic studies under Rabbi Salman Baruch Rabinkow until he was 25.

After his final exam at Wöhler-Schule in Frankfurt, the American equivalent of high school, at the age of 18, Fromm embarked upon two semesters studying jurisprudence at the University of Frankfurt. In 1919, Fromm transferred to Heidelberg University during the summer semester and also changed his focus from law to sociology. He studied under Alfred Weber, the brother of esteemed sociologist Max Weber, one of the founding pillars of the sociological perspective. In 1922, Fromm received his Ph.D. doctorate in Sociology from Heidelberg University and two years later opened the Therapeutikum with Frieda Reichmann whom he married in 1926.

During the years between 1927 through 1930, Fromm begins and completes his studies concerning psychoanalysis in Berlin and opens his own practice there. It was during this time in Erich Fromm’s life that he came to be enthralled by Freudian constructs on psychoanalytic theories. Fromm’s introduction to Freud and subsequent submersion into psychoanalysis became a central feature of his life’s work and informed much of the writing and publishing he did for the remainder of his career. Even though psychology held a strong influence upon his intellectual contemplation, sociological theories and paradigms were laden throughout his work, drawing a closer relation to social psychology than Freudian psychoanalysis. Next in the investigation, a journey through the significant others in Fromm’s life will help to illustrate that many different people and ideas other than those of Sigmund Freud, became important aspects to his development as a social thinker and psychological counselor.

Important Personal Influences:

As mentioned earlier, Alfred Weber was very instrumental in the life course of Erich Fromm. Alfred persuaded and enabled Fromm to change his educational trajectory from law to sociology and therefore provided him with the tools to create the theories and ideas that later became a part of his overall socio-psychological framework. Also previously mentioned was Rabbi Salman Rabinkow, who ushered Fromm into his Talmudic studies and showed him that his religiosity could co-exist with his quest for enlightenment through other paradigms of thought. These two individuals gave Fromm direction and meaning as well as a sense of what aspects of critical thought would inform his theories later in his professional development.

Georg Groddeck was one of the first psychoanalysts that Fromm came into contact with and made an indelible impression upon him. Fromm once said of Groddeck, “When I think of all the analysts in Germany that I knew, he was, in my opinion, the only one with truth, originality, courage and extraordinary kindness. He penetrated the unconscious of his patient, and yet he never hurt. …Even if I was never his student in any technical sense, his teaching influenced me more than that of other teachers I had. He was a man of such stature, that the majority of the psychoanalysts in Germany were not capable of appreciating him, and he was too proud a man to make himself pleasant and popular,” (Fromm 2000:252). Along with Groddeck, Johann Jakob Bachofen, a Swiss jurist and anthropologist, helped Fromm to discover and develop his ideas concerning maternalism and patriarchal society.

Two of the largest influences that penetrated much of Fromm’s work were of course Sigmund Freud and also Karl Marx. Of Freud, Fromm stated, “he opened a new world for me, the world of the unconscious. He taught me – and many millions – that only a small part of ourselves is conscious. He distinguished two kinds of the unconscious: the so-called preconscious – something which could be conscious, but is not at the moment (because one would go insane if one always thought about everything which goes on in one’s brain at the same time). Then there is the unconscious – the sense of the repressed which is prevented by some force within me from becoming conscious,” (Fromm 2000:251). Then there was Marx, who had a profound effect upon Fromm. He says that, “what drew me to him was primarily his philosophy and his vision of socialism, which expressed, in secular forms, the idea of human self-realization, of total humanization, the idea of a human being whose goal is vital self-expression and not the acquisition and accumulation of dead, material things. …Freud and Marx have been the two great desillusioners, although Marx saw deeper because he looked at the forces underneath which needed illusions, while Freud only individually dissolved illusions people had in their own individual relationship with reality,” (Fromm 2000:252). Later in the examination of Fromm and his work, the influences of Freud and of Marx will become increasingly apparent when explicating some of the notions that Fromm wrote of, specifically humanism, in many of his books and other publications concerning society and the individual.

México and the I.F.P.S.:

“Erich Fromm’s visit to México in 1949, and his meeting with a group of Mexican psychiatrists was the beginning of a working relationship that lasted for over 25 years. It left its mark on a number of community-oriented institutions, professional societies and publications, which are alive even today,” (Millán & Gojman 2000:207). At this time in his life, Erich Fromm began to have health problems that forced him to seek alternate venues for research and for living. In 1931 he fell ill with tuberculosis and subsequently was separated from his wife, of which the marriage never recovered. He continued to receive treatment for tuberculosis for years thereafter.

Over the course of the decade of the thirties, Fromm began to guest lecture in the United States at the behest of Karen Horney at the University of Chicago and soon emigrated to the U.S., fleeing the Nazi occupation of Europe. The decision to move to America provided him with access to frequent and advanced medical treatment as he also became ill with rheumatoid arthritis. Fromm became a U.S. citizen on the 25^th of May 1940, a decade later, Fromm moved to México, seeking warmer climates to aid in his battle with arthritis. With his wife Henny Gurland, (he remarried in 1944), they found México to be an exhilarating place of social and psychological examination, as well as physical relaxation, wherein Fromm began to work during the 1950s on a psycho-social research project involving Mexican peasants.

During this time Fromm also was involved in the development and establishment of many organizations related to the field of psychology and social research including: The Sociedad Mexicana de Psicoanálisis, The Instituto Mexicano de Psicoanálisis, The Seminario de Sociopicoanalisis, The Centro de Investigación y Documentación para América Latina, Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos, empirical research into Fromm’s psycho-social theory written by himself and Michael Maccoby and a seminar on Psychoanalysis and Zen Buddhism collaborated on with D.T. Suzuki. “The fact that Fromm found such fertile ground in México was perhaps mainly due to the social condition of the country at the time. In those years, between 1950 and 1965, the country’s G.D.P. was expanding at a rate of 7% a year; México was in a phase of transformation,” (Millán & Gojman 2000: 209). Precipitously, “in México, Fromm moved in various circles, all of them with the common denominator of involvement in human development, which was their object of study, seen in and as part of its social environment, with a social-humanistic focus. He was invited at that time to become a honorary member in the most prestigious medical association of México, the Academy of Medicine,” (Millán & Gojman 2000:211).

As the decade of the 1960s began, new opportunities also arose for Erich Fromm. A large stint in book publishing starting in 1941 with Escape From Freedom, 1947’s Man for Himself, The Sane Society in 1955, the world best seller The Art of Loving in 1956, 1959’s Freud’s Mission: An Analysis of his Personality and Influence, Marx’s Concept of Man in 1961, Beyond the Chains of Illusion in 1962, The Heart of Man in ’64 and in 1966 and 1968 both You Shall Be as Gods and The Revolution of Hope respectively, all showcased the talent that Fromm had with ideology, conceptualization and a knack for elucidating socio-psychological theoretical constructs, which gave him a brief popularity in professional and academic arenas.

Fromm parlayed his publication success into a chance to formulate and establish a new type of professional psychological organization that took into account the radical insights of Freud and of Fromm himself, ideas that had been marginalized by other organizations. In forming the I.F.P.S. or the International Federation of Psychoanalytic Societies, Fromm and others who supported him in this endeavor found extreme opposition from organizations such as: I.P.A. (International Psychoanalytic Association), A.P.A. (American Psychoanalytic Association), the German Psychoanalytic Society, the New York Psychoanalytic Society, the Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis, the New York William Alanson White Institute, and the Washington Psychoanalytic Society, all of which had specific interests when it came to the professional organization of psychoanalysts and none of which had radical psychoanalysis in mind when considering such institutions. “Fromm never tired of emphasizing that the new International Federation of Psychoanalytic Societies should continue Freud’s radical thinking. The question, however, is: What makes psychoanalysis radical? For Freud and for Fromm to be radical means to go to the unconscious “radices” – to the unconscious roots of individual and social behavior. …radicalism of psychoanalysis means to find ways and – as a matter of fact – to go to the unconscious strivings, motions, fantasies, ideas and so on. That is to say what defines the psychoanalytic understanding of human behavior and can secure the radicalism of psychoanalysis primarily has to do with the methods by which one gets in touch with the unconscious,” (Funk 2000:196). This illustration aids in the transition from this section of the examination of Fromm to the next in that some of the notions and concepts that he spoke of and wrote about tended to be on the radical side of intellectual speculation and inquiry. Nonetheless, Fromm pushed the edges of academic investigation, especially with concern to social and psychological theoretical expeditions that sought to better the human condition through a humanistic perspective. In the upcoming segment, Fromm’s thought development is illuminated, examining its formulation and particular areas of interest.

Fromm’s Thought Development:

As previous statements have illuminated, Fromm’s development of theories and ideologies came from many different and diverse areas of academic interest. With respect to Freud and psychoanalysis, Fromm abandoned libido theory choosing to focus on the specific apparatus of Freud’s theory that dealt with the unconscious and the drives that situate from it and the surrounding environment. “Fromm was not the primary presenter of libidinal aims nor of the repression of psycho-sexual development. Unlike Freud, he constructed “man” and his deviant development in a diversity of social characters within the social value systems in different cultures. He shifted from libidinal instinct to the two social drives of “relatedness” and “acquisition”,” (Ortmeyer 1998:31).

However, in considering these concepts, ethical considerations begin to arise. “For Fromm, humanistic ethics is based on the principle that ‘good’ is what is good for us as human beings and ‘evil’ is what is detrimental to us, and the sole criterion of ethical value is human welfare. ‘Good’ is regarded as the affirmation of life through the unfolding of man’s powers and ‘virtue’ as responsibility to our own existence, whereas ‘evil’ is the crippling of our own power and ‘vice’ is irresponsibility toward oneself,” (Wilde 2000:41). Here we see the impact that Marx’s concepts had on the theoretical development of Fromm. The idea of humanism and its precepts are distinctly related to Marx’s idea of complete human freedom through the processes of self-awareness and personal self-development.

Noted much earlier in the examination, maternalism was a key feature of Fromm’s thoughts upon the overwhelming patriarchy that exudes from most societies throughout history and up to the present. “For Fromm, the goal of emancipation for women ought not to be simply equality with men under existing social conditions but should strive for the revolutionary transformation of all human relations,” (Wilde 2004:346). These notions of women’s equality were arrived at through the careful examination of principles and ethics developed by Johann Bachofen. “In his later writings Fromm continues to place great importance on the critique of patriarchy and the emancipatory potential inherent in the matricentric psychic structure. However, in formulating the differences between male and female traits Fromm unwittingly leaves the door open to the sort of sexual stereotyping which he had consistently opposed. In The Sane Society (1956) he maintains his support for Bachofen’s views on the positive aspects of matriarchy and contrasts them with Freud’s negative view of the attachment to the mother figure. He concurs with Bachofen’s view that there are both positive and negative elements of the matriarchal structure and lists the positive elements as “affirmation of life, freedom, and equality,” while the negative side is that the bond to nature blocks humankind from developing individuality and reason,” (Wilde 2004:352).

It is interesting to observe the development and transformative aspects of Fromm’s thought as one reads his books or any of the manuscripts that he authored. Certain concepts are more prevalent than others as well as specific individuals whom he encountered personally, professionally and/or through writings and publications. One of Fromm’s strongest virtues as a theoritician was his ability to absorb and digest the ideas of other theorists and manipulate them, make connections to others or reconfigurate them altogether. However, Fromm himself wasn’t at all lacking in his own ability to create and construct theory. “Fromm’s contribution to psychoanalysis and social science remains to be further developed. He provides us with theory and methods to understand health and illness as concepts that refer not just to the individual alone but also to the relationships of the individual to others and to social institutions. For the children of the postmodern world, especially those who have already achieved the material goals of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment, Fromm can be a guide who integrates the humanistic lessons of religion, literature, and philosophy with the discoveries of psychoanalysis. Even if one does not believe it is possible to create utopia, it is possible for many of us to develop our productive capacities of love and reason,” (Maccoby 1995:82).

Publications:

In brief, a few of the many books that Erich Fromm authored must be attended to so as to capture examples of his strength at writing about the intricacies of the human condition. Earlier in the essay an incomplete list of Fromm’s books was given to illustrate his capability of producing large amounts of work over the course of his tenured career. Mentioned was his 1956 bestseller The Art of Loving in which he expounds upon his ideas of love and its capability to transcend the ironies of modern society. “In Fromm’s account love is portrayed as the “answer to the problem of human existence”. Fromm maintains that overcoming isolation and separateness is “the deepest need of man”. Reviewing a number of attempts to achieve this aim, such as orgiastic states, creative activities and conformity with the group, he concludes that “the unity achieved in productive work is not interpersonal; the unity achieved in orgiastic fusion is transitory; the unity achieved by conformity is only pseudo-unity. Hence, they are only partial answers to the problem of existence. The full answer lies in the achievement of interpersonal union, of fusion with another person, in love,” (Shinebourne 2006:397). The ideas that he puts forth in this particular book offer Fromm’s extension of Marx’s utopic ideas on human freedom through personal development, in this case the interpersonal formulation of love with another human being.

In another of Fromm’s many works, Escape From Freedom, he addresses the ambiguity of freedom, mechanisms of escape, the illusions of individuality, the spontaneity of freedom, authoritarianism, destructiveness, and automaton conformity among other issues. In attempting to conceptualize the book, Paul Roazen stated, “Fromm had proposed a specific twist to our thinking about freedom – not just as a negative release from external constraints, but also a positive emancipation from inner passions. Jean-Jacques Rousseau had meant something similar, I think, with his notion of “forcing” people to be free,” (Roazen 2000:239). Although it was published in 1941, this tome on the illusions of freedom and its implications for the individual and society has relevance and meaning, even today for persons living in an ultramodern society.

The Sane Society was published one year before the acclaimed The Art of Loving hit shelves. In The Sane Society, Fromm creates a diagnostic tool for contemporary civilization. Viewed as a harsh critique of modern capitalism, the book articulates the human condition situated within a complex social network existing of irrationality, destructiveness, narcissism, herd conformity and other social ills of which Fromm extends his own personal beliefs as to how these sicknesses can be alleviated. As chapter 8 specifically states, Roads to Sanity are exactly what Fromm offers, even though they are given from a subjective ideology. “In many of his works, such as The Sane Society and To Have or To Be? Fromm underlined that the realization of the utopia proposed by him is by no means the end of human history, but only a radical step towards the birth of the human individual. It is a transition from the “humanoidal” stage to truly Human History. The existence of man and his destiny are based on contradictions, which man is supposed to resolve, but never manages to do so to the very end. In this sense, one might say that “man’s complete birth” is a postulate and an ethical ideal towards which one should strive, but which will never be attained entirely. The sane society utopia is an important stop along this route,” (Chalubiński 2001:100). Many of Fromm’s works dealt with the idea of humanistic virtue and the ability of man to attain perfectability within and about himself. Although this notion is by far the most utopic of those Fromm proposed, in it is the aspiration that one day, humankind will supersede all of the petty and egotistical pieces of their being to reach a truly free and honest basis for the foundation of the individual and of society.

Conclusion:

“The choice “To Have or To Be?” refers to modes of existence and characterizes their productive or nonproductive impact on the human system – a system designed primarily for growth. So trying to overcome the “having orientation” does not necessarily involve asceticism, the renunciation of life, or reorientation toward abstention form possessions, rather the summoning and practice of inner strength,” (Ortmeyer 2000:258). So the panacea for humanity isn’t so much to retreat from modern society and found a new colony on some distant shore with new values and ethics, but to evolve the current condition so as to appropriate what has been positive and add to that all which is equally possible and beyond by humans and transcend the materialism as it is defined presently.

Fromm’s academic contribution is one that has lasted for many years after his death in 1980. Resolving himself to Locarno, Switzerland, Fromm published his last book in 1975, the aforementioned To Have or To Be?, an appropriate last entry in his long line of works. Within it, Fromm takes a brief look at the materialism developing in modern society, which has since been reframed as a transitory society of production to a society of consumption, Fromm would be disheartened. He might even say that the illusions provided by the things in which we consume is yet another ploy at shackling humans to the processes of their forebears, an inescapable vortex of confounding marketplaces and limited pleasantries making freedom even more elusive than ever.

In closing, may it be found as appropriate to end with some of the words from the man himself, pieces of Fromm’s credo which he places at the conclusion of his book Beyond the Chains of Illusion: My Encounter with Marx and Freud. “I believe that reason cannot be effective unless man has hope and belief. Goethe was right when he said that the deepest distinction between various historical periods is that between belief and disbelief, and when he added that all epochs in which belief dominates are brilliant, uplifting and fruitful, while those in which disbelief dominates vanish because nobody cares to devote himself to the unfruitful. No doubt the thirteenth century, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment were ages of belief and hope. I am afraid that the Western World in the twentieth century deceives itself about the fact that it has lost hope and belief. Truly, where there is no belief in man, the belief in machines will not save us from vanishing; on the contrary, this “belief’ will only accelerate the end. Either the Western World will be capable of creating a renaissance of humanism in which the fullest developments of man’s humanity, and not production and work, are the central issues – or the West will perish as many other great civilizations have,” (Fromm 1962:137).

References

Chalubiński, M. 2001. The Sane Society: Remarks on Utopianism by Erich Fromm. Dialogue and Universalism, No.7-8: 77-104.

Fromm, E. 1962. Beyond The Chains of Illusion:My Encounter With Marx and Freud. Continuum. New York, New York, United States.

Fromm, E. 2000. Autobiographical Sidelights by Erich Fromm. International Forum Psychoanal, Vol. 9:251-253.

Funk, R. 2000. Erich Fromm’s Role in the Foundation of the IFPS. International Forum Psychoanal, Vol. 9:187-197.

Funk, R. 2000. Strolling Through the Life of Erich Fromm (1900-1980). International Forum Psychoanal, Vol. 9:255-258.

Maccoby, M. 1995. The Two Voices of Erich Fromm: Prophet and Analyst. Society, July/August: 72-82.

Millán, S. & Gojman, S. 2000. The Legacy of Fromm in México. International Forum Psychoanal, Vol. 9:207-215.

Ortmeyer, D. 1998. Revisiting Erich Fromm. International Forum Psychoanal, Vol. 7:25-33.

Roazen, P. 2000. Fromm’s Escape from Freedom and His Standing Today. International Forum Psychoanal, Vol. 9:239-240.

Shinebourne, P. 2006. Erich Fromm’s The Art of Loving: 50 Years On. Existential Analysis: Journal of the Society for Existential Analysis, Vol.17, Issue 2:397-408.

Wilde, L. 2000. In Search of Solidarity: The Ethical Politics of Erich Fromm (1900- 1980). Contemporary Politics, Vol. 6, No. 1: 37-54.

Wilde, L. 2004. The Significance of Maternalism in the Evolution of Fromm’s Social Thought. The European Legacy, Vol. 9, No.3:343-256.