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A review by louismarlowe
Escape from Freedom by Erich Fromm
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.
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.