A review by stephen_coulon
Escape from Freedom by Erich Fromm

informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

Fromm’s central purpose here explores a dangerous irony in modern political ideology. The sacred tenet of promoting the rights of individual liberty has a dark side because total personal freedom can also beget a deep existential hopelessness. Having a master to serve, a parent to please, rules to follow, dogma to obey, these have always provided profound meaning in life for individuals throughout human history. Fromm even makes a strong case that until the Enlightenment period people didn’t even understand themselves as individuals, but rather as parts of groups with prescribed roles to play, and while the bondage and limitations inherent in this way of life were certainly oppressive, at least a person could live in the satisfying security of having a true purpose in life. But when political movements evolved toward seeking liberty people suddenly found themselves losing their entire sense of self. Gaining freedom from traditional authority also brought freedom from having a provided purpose in life, an unbearably terrifying prospect for many. And thus people seek an escape from this existential dread by turning toward leaders and movements that offer the comforting security of obedience-bound purpose, a ripe opportunity for fascists and other authoritarians. Fromm’s detailed and careful approach at analyzing global politics through the lens of individual psychology is fascinatingly convincing, and when he recounts the sociological trends in 1930s Europe leading to the rize of the Nazi party it is truly frightening; swap a few proper nouns and the description is a near perfect account of the USA in the 2010s.