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morgan_blackledge's review
3.0
My wife and I share an Amazon account.
Not sure how that happened, but it did.
The practice has its ups and downs.
It exposes both of us to information about the other that may be better left private.
It confuses the hell out of the Amazon AI book recommendation algorithm.
And it occasionally leads to some interesting conversations.
For instance:
Yesterday, when my wife was reviewing our stupidly high Amazon bill.
She asked: “who the fuck is Erich Fromm and why do we have so many of his books?”
A fair question.
To which I replied:
Fromm was a fanboy/hater of Freud and Marx.
He used one to critique the other.
And synthesized that dialectic into a model he referred to as “social psychoanalysis”.
Essentially:
Fromm thought Marx nailed it when he observed that socio-economic conditions impact human well-being. But Fromm thought Marx dropped the ball in his epic failure to understand that certain natural, individual (rather than collective) factors matter (a lot) in terms of human motivation. And that failure ultimately lead to oppressive Soviet and Maoist style dogma and shadow totalitarian oligarchy masquerading as progressive government.
Fromm’s score card on Marx:
Marx’s critique of capitalism (+1).
Marx’s failure to understand human nature from the inside out (-1).
Conversely, Fromm thought Freud nailed it when he observed that deeply unconscious motivations dominate human life and impact human well-being. And repression of those natural (if unseemly instincts) lead to all sorts of psychopathology and consequent misery. But Fromm thought Freud dropped the ball BIG TIME by failing to recognize the intensely negative psychological impact of bourgeois capitalism on its captive inhabitants.
Fromm’s score card on Freud:
Freud’s discovery of implicit motivations, and the implications of repression and sublimation (+1).
Freud’s failure to deconstruct sexist, patriarchal, authoritarian, bourgeois, capitalist materialism (-1).
Fromms solution:
Slam the good shit about Marx and Freud together.
Drop the nonsense.
Done and done.
Although my wife deeply regretted asking the question.
I felt a new sense of clarity after my intentionally aversive mansplaining exposition.
And I resolved right then and there to write about it in this review.
Of NOTE:
This is Fromm’s last book, and it may be the last book of his that I read.
He was a towering genius.
I LOVE Erich Fromm.
And I think I’m done.
My wife is correct.
We have enough books by Erich Fromm.
I may re-read some of his other ASTOUNDING titles.
But I don’t think I will keep going in his catalog.
I think I get what he’s saying.
And I agree.
What becomes of us when we repress our deep animal needs in order to become better commodities in late capitalism’s panopticon megastore?
What happens to our psyche when no one is jumping into our “me-marketing sales funnel?”
I think we’re all feeling it.
And for a lot of us.
Maybe all of us.
With the possible exceptions of Bezos, Zuckerberg and Musk.
It BLOWS!!!!
Down with sexist, patriarchal, authoritarian, bourgeois, capitalist materialism!!!!
Up with love and work!!!!
Heres to a life of honest and true freedom, connection and meaningful accomplishment!!!
Thank you Erich Fromm and Amazon.
Not sure how that happened, but it did.
The practice has its ups and downs.
It exposes both of us to information about the other that may be better left private.
It confuses the hell out of the Amazon AI book recommendation algorithm.
And it occasionally leads to some interesting conversations.
For instance:
Yesterday, when my wife was reviewing our stupidly high Amazon bill.
She asked: “who the fuck is Erich Fromm and why do we have so many of his books?”
A fair question.
To which I replied:
Fromm was a fanboy/hater of Freud and Marx.
He used one to critique the other.
And synthesized that dialectic into a model he referred to as “social psychoanalysis”.
Essentially:
Fromm thought Marx nailed it when he observed that socio-economic conditions impact human well-being. But Fromm thought Marx dropped the ball in his epic failure to understand that certain natural, individual (rather than collective) factors matter (a lot) in terms of human motivation. And that failure ultimately lead to oppressive Soviet and Maoist style dogma and shadow totalitarian oligarchy masquerading as progressive government.
Fromm’s score card on Marx:
Marx’s critique of capitalism (+1).
Marx’s failure to understand human nature from the inside out (-1).
Conversely, Fromm thought Freud nailed it when he observed that deeply unconscious motivations dominate human life and impact human well-being. And repression of those natural (if unseemly instincts) lead to all sorts of psychopathology and consequent misery. But Fromm thought Freud dropped the ball BIG TIME by failing to recognize the intensely negative psychological impact of bourgeois capitalism on its captive inhabitants.
Fromm’s score card on Freud:
Freud’s discovery of implicit motivations, and the implications of repression and sublimation (+1).
Freud’s failure to deconstruct sexist, patriarchal, authoritarian, bourgeois, capitalist materialism (-1).
Fromms solution:
Slam the good shit about Marx and Freud together.
Drop the nonsense.
Done and done.
Although my wife deeply regretted asking the question.
I felt a new sense of clarity after my intentionally aversive mansplaining exposition.
And I resolved right then and there to write about it in this review.
Of NOTE:
This is Fromm’s last book, and it may be the last book of his that I read.
He was a towering genius.
I LOVE Erich Fromm.
And I think I’m done.
My wife is correct.
We have enough books by Erich Fromm.
I may re-read some of his other ASTOUNDING titles.
But I don’t think I will keep going in his catalog.
I think I get what he’s saying.
And I agree.
What becomes of us when we repress our deep animal needs in order to become better commodities in late capitalism’s panopticon megastore?
What happens to our psyche when no one is jumping into our “me-marketing sales funnel?”
I think we’re all feeling it.
And for a lot of us.
Maybe all of us.
With the possible exceptions of Bezos, Zuckerberg and Musk.
It BLOWS!!!!
Down with sexist, patriarchal, authoritarian, bourgeois, capitalist materialism!!!!
Up with love and work!!!!
Heres to a life of honest and true freedom, connection and meaningful accomplishment!!!
Thank you Erich Fromm and Amazon.
piccoline's review
4.0
Nice overview of Freud's work, by the brilliant Fromm. What's especially enjoyable and useful is how bold Fromm can be in both celebrating certain aspects of Freud's work while also wielding a sharp blade when it comes time to criticize that same work. The offhanded observation, late in the book, that Freud's position as part of a powerful, rich elite that kept its status by manipulating and (thought) controlling the "unruly" masses was undoubtedly a factor in his creation of ego (rational elite) and id (unwashed masses) as universal features of humanity hit me right in the forehead. It's so obviously true, once he points it out. Fromm provides quite a few excellent points along these lines.
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