Reviews

Escape from Freedom by Erich Fromm

alexandra4's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective slow-paced

4.75

desertmichelle's review against another edition

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challenging informative slow-paced

4.0

jpmaguire2's review against another edition

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5.0

An excellent examination of the contemporary obsession with freedom and the nasty things people do to fulfill their escaping from it.

constantlorelai's review against another edition

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4.0

I have been reading this colossal in depth yet short in length meditation on the current nature of the modern man for the last couple of months in short bursts of enthusiasm followed by long pauses. Happy I got to the bottom of it in the end.

The only issue with this book is the fact that I wish it would have been written today and not in the 40s (at the peak of the Nazi Germany threat) so it would be more apparent to the general public just how incredibly current and faithful it is 80 years later, unfortunately, to the still ongoing plights of today's society when it comes to dealing with the ever fleeting concept of "freedom from Vs freedom to".

I will isolate some thoughts and marked passages below that most spoke to me:

Subjective self consciousness by which man is different in nature from other people confronts man with the problem he feels his insignificance in the universe unless he belongs somewhere. He would be filled with doubt that would impede his drive to live.

***

One of the baseline manifestations of authoritarianism resides in cultural masochism on the part of the individuals that are in desperate need of structure, answers, that need to relinquish the burden of decision about their own belief system and doubt when confronted with the investigative process of making a choice. It's a need for belonging and for validation of said belonging. It's safety in numbers.

It all stems from a lack of individuality. People in touch with their individual self are capable to belong without losing who they are in essence. Both masochism and sadism, conceptually stem from the same thing, the inability to bear the isolation and weakness of one's own self. Thus a symbiotic relationship can emerge.

***

Rejection of authority in spite of the fact that it does not pose any problems of suppression is a mark of authoritarian inclination. Not ever wanting to have any power above your own in spite of a lack of overt oppression. The authoritarian character will rarely act as a revolutionary, but will defy authority, will act as a rebel.

"The right to express our thoughts means something only if we are able to formulate thoughts of our own."

***

Fromm is incredibly current in the 40s when observing that "modern man conforms to the expectations of others, putting up a front of satisfaction and optimism, while at the same time being deeply unhappy, on the verge of desperation. He desprerately clings to the notion of individuality. He wantsto be free and to express his individuality while the true meaning of freedom for the modern man is becoming free of the external bonds that would prevent him from doing and thinking as he sees fit. He would be free to act according to his own will, if he knew what he wanted, thought, and felt. But he does not know. He confirms to anonymous authorities and adopts behaviours that are not his. The more he does this, the more powerless he feels, and the more he is forced to conform. "

Giving up spontaneity and individuality evolvs in a thwarting of life. While being alive mentally and biologically, his life runs through his hands like sand.
The dispair of the human automaton is fietile soil to the political purposes of fascism.


*Freedom and spontaneity*.

"Positive freedom consists in the spontaneous activity of the total integrated personality. " [...]

"Spontaneous activity is not compulsive activity to which the individual is driven by his isolation and powerlessness, it does not imply the uncritical adoption of patterns suggested from the outside. "[...]

"Spontaneous activity is free activity of the self, implying free will. By activity, Fromm means the quality of creative activity that can operate in one's emotional, intellectual, and sensuous experience and in one's will as well. Only if a man does not repress essential parts of himself, and only if the different spheres of his life reach a fundamental integration is spontaneous activity possible."

"Our is only that to which we are related by our creative ability. Only those qualities that result from our spontaneous activity give strength to the self and thereby form the basis for integrity. The inability to act spontaneously, to express what one genuinely feels and thinks and the resulting necessity to present a pseudo self to others and oneself are the root of the feeling of inferiority and weakness. Wether or not we are aware of it, there is nothing of which we are more ashamed than of not being ourselves and there is nothing that gives us greater pride and happiness than to think, to feel, and to say what is ours. "

***

And probably the idea the touched me the most:

"Positive freedom is the realisation of the self and implies the full affirmation of the uniqueness of the individual. Men are born equal but they are also different. The basis of this difference is the inherited equipment, physiological and mental, with which they start life, to which is added the particular constellation of circumstances and experiences that they meet with. This individual basis of the personality is as little identical with any other as two organisms are ever identical physically. The genuine growth of the self is always a growth on this particular basis; it is an organic growth, the unfolding of a nucleus that is peculiar for this one person and only for him. The development of the automaton, in contrast, is not an organic growth. The growth on the basis of the self is blocked and a pseudo self is superimposed upon the self, which is essentially the incorporation of extraneous patterns of thinking and feeling. Organic growth is possible only under the condition of supreme respect for the peculiarity of the self of other persons as well as of our own self. This respect for and cultivation of the uniqueness of the self is the most valuable achievement of human culture and it is this very achievement that is in danger today. "

valerio18's review against another edition

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5.0

Un saggio scorrevole, interessante e profondo sul senso della libertà e sulle condizioni e cause psicologiche dei fenomeni storicopolitico e sociali.

carlylottsofbookz's review against another edition

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5.0

Here is a book that was recommended to me early in my grad school career, and for some reason I have put off reading it until now. (Studying for comps has pushed me to "get my reading on"...) I read this book in hopes of just reviewing some theory and getting Fromm's perspective. I did not expect to read it and be so engrossed (definitely didn't expect to read it in 2.5 days...).

Fromm puts it out there that as humans, our desire for individual freedom is one that at the same time makes us free, also makes us alone. He states that the desire to be free and an individual thus makes us isolate and alone--which is not really what we want. We must some how reconcile these two forces...which is not easy. What I am taking from that portion of the book is that man must decide what is more individually important to him: The ability to say that he is free, and has his own ideas (but be alone)...or the safety that comes with conforming and working with others.

He goes further to explain the history of personal freedoms, and the influence that religion (especially Luther and Calvin) has on shaping the modern man. The last portion of the book describes how the German people could allow themselves to be followers of a party like the Nazi party. (And yes, how the United States, even though we have a democracy, might be able to be dominated by a strong force like what national socialism did to Germany.)

What impresses me I think the most about this book is when I look at the date it was written: 1941. A *LOT* of what Fromm states to be a problem facing man is the SAME as it is in 2011, 60 years later. Bombardment from advertisements, radio, film, billboards, depersonalization of our daily lives...it's strange to see that this has been underway for so long.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys thinking...hopefully you do.

ravishthalesar94's review against another edition

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slow-paced

3.0

rachelhelps's review against another edition

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4.0

I loved this book, because it pointed out all the problems with human life as I know it, and articulated them well. However, there is not much written in the way of solutions to these problems.

louismarlowe's review against another edition

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4.0

"It seems that nothing is more difficult for the average man to bear than the feeling of not being identified with a larger group" - Erich Fromm

Fromm explains the psychological tendencies of the authoritarian character in the age of modern man. The isolation of existence drives people to rally around a collective cause, submitting and submerging their freedoms as an escape from the aloneness, powerlessness and anxiety that is a byproduct of individuality. In light of the current cultural events taking place in the United States under Trumpism, I see this book as a fitting study into the psychology of those that fall at the knees of a "strong man".

Fromm begins the book by covering the emergence of man as an "individual" arising from the transition of the historical feudal systems of European living to that of an individualistic, capitalistic society. He argues that pre-renaissance belief structures of the world, in which there was a natural order created by God, allowed the common person to live without doubt about their identity. As these maps of belief gradually became deconstructed with the advent of a modern capitalistic society, inevitably, doubt began and continues, to plague the mind of the individual.

There are mainly two tendencies that take place in the authoritarian character to combat these feelings of doubt and existential isolation. The first is to masochistically allow yourself to submerge and submit to a collective ideology that will provide answers and meaning to your existence and take away the anxiety of being ultimately alone. The second tendency is the desire to wholly dominate those beneath you on the social hierarchy and with a disgust exhibited at those seen as weak and powerless. These tendencies can be applied to many things, but predominantly, they are applied in a symbiotic manner to a larger, more powerful entity that is outside of oneself (e.g., a person, an institution, God, the nation, conscience, or psychic compulsion).

Fromm covers three mechanism of Escape, these being 1) authoritarianism; 2) destructiveness; 3) automaton conformity. The first I have briefly summarised in the sado-masochistic tendencies than can be found within the authoritarian character. The second, destructiveness, is most effective in the active aim of eliminating an opposing object. Destruction of the world is a last desparate attempt of a powerless person to provide the illusion of taking control of one's life/ a situation. In the act of destorying the others, the world ceases to be threatening. The third, and final, is that of an automaton conformity. Within this mechanism, the individual withdraws from the world so that it loses its threat. The individual ceases to be themself and adopts the personality offered to them by the cultural norms and patterns around them. This individual is identical to those around them, and in this indenticality, the individual need not feel alone or anxious.

Fromm counterbalances the solemnity and the weight of freedom by indicating that the only way to combat this existential freedom is to approach it through the action of spontaneity. For spontaneity to be achievable, one should engage in the active expression of one's emotions and intellectual potentialities. One must try to think for one's self and not be tempted by the prepackaged ideas to life's profound questions supplied by the warmth embrace of the collective ideology.

comeintothegraveyardmary's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective slow-paced

4.0