Erich Fromm's Socio-Analytical Theory PDF

ERICH FROMM SOCIO-ANALYTICAL THEORY: Humanistic Psychoanalysis “The most beautiful as well as the most ugly inclinations are not part of a fixed and biologically given human nature but result from the social processes which create humans.” Biography PERSONAL INFORMATION Birthdate: 1900 B...

ERICH FROMM SOCIO-ANALYTICAL THEORY: Humanistic Psychoanalysis “The most beautiful as well as the most ugly inclinations are not part of a fixed and biologically given human nature but result from the social processes which create humans.” Biography PERSONAL INFORMATION Birthdate: 1900 Birthplace:Frankurt, Germany Father was a moody businessman Mother was frequently depressed Childhood wasn’t very happy. Wife: FRIEDA REICHMANN (analyst) Had an affair with Karen Horney after divorcing his wife. Died in 1980 in Switzerland CAREER AND STUDIES Studied: Psychology Sociology (Ph.D from Heidelberg in 1922) Philosophy He began his career as a psychotherapist after a Freudian Psychoanalytic training in Munich and at the Psychoanalytic Institute in Berlin. 1934 – New York City, met many of the other great refugee thinkers including Karen Horney. Taught at Yale Universities (Columbia) Established the Department of Psychoanalytic Training at the Medical School of the National University of Mexico. SIGNIFICANT EVENTS “She was 25 years of age…I heard that she had been engaged but broken the arrangement in order to devote her time with her widowed father… (after her father died) she had killed herself…wanted to be buried with her father.”  WORLD WAR I: He saw the extremes that nationalism could go to. “We (Christian Germans), are great; they (the English and their allies) are cheap mercenaries.” “I wanted to understand the laws that govern the life of the individual man, and the laws of the society.” He suspected that human personality was profoundly affected by social, economic, political, and historical forces and that a sick society produced sick people. SIGNIFICANT PEOPLE FREUD (Oedipus Complex) KARL MARX (from whom he found the answers on the irrationality of mass behavior) KAREN HORNEY Introduction Introduction ✔All men are ultimately idealists and hope for a life beyond pure physical satisfaction. ✔ An individual has the capacity to solve his own problems. ✔ He created most of his problems. ✔ He doesn’t look for quick solutions.  “ Man is the only animal who finds his own existence a problem which he has to solve and from which he cannot escape… man is the only animal who knows he must die.” Freedom versus Security ❖ Human Condition: as people have achieved more freedom, they have become more lonely, insignificant and alienated (or vice versa). Freedom versus Security 1. ALIENATION FROM NATURE ▪ Man is no longer with nature. ▪ Man has transcended nature but as a result…(he) is left homeless, isolated and alienated. To cope with these feelings of alienation people identify with their tribes or clans. ▪ Membership provides acceptance, affiliation, and a set of customs and rules. However, humans grow and develop. Consequently, security couldn’t last. ▪ Each period has been characterized by increasing movement away from the group and toward individuality.  ALIENATION = HIGH DEGREE OF FREEDOM Freedom versus Security 2. THE MIDDLE AGES (400 AD – 1400): THE LAST ERA OF STABILITY ▪FEUDAL SYSTEM determined one’s place in the society. ▪ RENAISSANCE and PROTESTANT REFORMATION destroyed stability and security by increasing personal freedom. ▪ The idea of individual came into being, however, with individuality came isolation and alienation, and bewilderment. ▪ Freedom is a difficult to have, and when we can, we tend to flee from it. Freedom versus Security 3. PSYCHIC ESCAPE MECHANISM ▪ Fromm offered 3 ways on how to escape from the negative aspects of freedom and regaining lost security. Psychic Escape Mechanism A. AUTHORITARIANISM - Fusing the self with others - Two-way approach: i. Submit to the Power ii. Becoming an authority - Extreme Authoritarianism is masochism and sadism. B. DESTRUCTIVENESS - Desire to eliminate threatening objects, persons, or institutions. “If I destroy the world, how can it hurt me?” - Yields to: brutality, vandalism, humiliation, crime and terrorism (all the nastiness of life.) - Most obvious king: SUICIDE - Other forms: drug addiction, alcoholism and passive entertainment C. AUTOMATON CONFORMITY - Person displays unconditional obedience to the prevailing rules that govern behavior. - Automaton conformists experiences a split between his genuine feelings and colors he shows the world. Personality Development in Childhood ❖ Three forms of interpersonal relatedness between parent and child: o SYMBIOTIC RELATEDNESS o WITHDRAWAL-DESTRUCTIVENESS o LOVE Personality Development in Childhood 1. SYMBIOTIC RELATEDNES ▪ Children remain close to and dependent of their parents. ▪ Some members of the family are “swallowed up” by other members…that they do not develop personalities of their own. ▪ Exists in unproductive symbiotic families 2. WITHDRAWAL-DESTRUCTIVENESS ▪ Children distantiate and separate themselves from their parents. ▪ Passive and active forms of the parent-child relationship and which form the children’s behaviors ▪ Notable for its cool indifference or hatefulness ▪ Found in unproductive withdrawing families. ▪ “COLD” version, parents are very demanding of their children. ▪ Punishment is done “for your own good.” ▪ Encourages perfectionism “If the rules are more important than people, destructiveness is inevitable.” ▪ “MODERN FAMILY,” parents shudder at the use of punishment and guilt in raising children. ▪ Raise your children as your equals. “Parents are just cohabitants with their children…they in return turn to their peers and to the media.” 3. LOVE ▪ Most desirable form of parent-child interaction. ▪ Parents provide the greatest opportunity for their children’s positive personality development. ▪ They teach their children ▪ The children learn to acknowledge their freedom and to take responsibility A loving family leads to a good, healthy and productive family. The Basic Psychological Needs 1. RELATEDNES ▪Form relationships, ▪Maintain contact, ▪Be concerned with their well-being … ideally through productive love. 2. TRANSCENDENCE ▪Rise above one’s animal nature by becoming creative or destructive. ▪In creative and productive activities, one is involved with the use of imagination and reason. ▪Destructiveness is the only block for creativity. 3. ROOTEDNESS ▪Need to feel an attachment or sense of belonging to family, community and society. 4. IDENTITY ▪Need to achieve am awareness to develop one’s unique abilities and characteristics. 5. FRAME OF ORIENTATION ▪ Need for consistent, coherent picture of the world. ▪ Need to develop a consistent viewpoint to organize one’s experiences and to find a meaningful object or goal to which one commits one’s self. 6. EXCITATION AND STIMULATION ▪Need for stimulating external environment so that one can maintain peak alertness and energy to cope with the demands of everyday life.  One’s cultural and social conditions and opportunities are imperative in the satisfaction of the needs. Therefore, the coping process of an individual is a compromise between one’s needs and the environment is. THE NON-PRODUCTIVE AND PRODUCTIVE CHARACTER TYPES ❖ Three forms of interpersonal relatedness between parent and child: o SYMBIOTIC RELATEDNESS o WITHDRAWAL-DESTRUCTIVENESS o LOVE NON-PRODUCTIVE CHARACTER TYPES 1. RECEPTIVE ▪ Highly dependent on others ▪ A receiver in a relation, needing to be loved rather than to love, and taking rather than creating. … individual feels incapable without outside help. 2. EXPLOITATIVE ▪Takes from other by forcing or cunning. ▪What has to be forcibly taken or stolen has greater value than what is given freely. 3. HOARDING ▪Derives security from amassing and preserving material possessions and personal thoughts and feelings.. 4. MARKETING ▪Values superficial qualities more than inner characteristics and abilities. ▪ One’s personality becomes simply a commodity to be sold. 5. NECROPHILUS ▪Attracted to inanimate objects and to things associated with death. ▪Tends to dwell on the past and to be cold and aloof. ▪Devotion to law and order ▪Use of power and force because individual’s dreams center on murder, blood and skulls. 6. HAVING ▪Definition and meaning of one’s life lies in possessions- people and intangibles (ideas) ▪Individual defines his value in terms of how well his possessions compare with those of others. ▪Highly competitive and ceaseless in his struggle to surpass the worth of others. PRODUCTIVE CHARACTER TYPES 1. PRODUCTIVE ▪ The ideal of self-development ▪ Represents the ultimate goal of human development. ▪ Ability to use all his capacities and realize his potential and to develop the self. ▪ It is not just about creativity and acquisition of material things, but rather on the attitude one can attain. 2. BIOPHILUS ▪ Congruent with the productive orientation due to concern with personal growth and development. ▪ Individual is in love with life and attracted to creation and construction. ▪ Influence is carried by love, reason and example. ▪ Development is not only for the self but of others ▪ View is toward the future. 3. BEING ▪One defines himself in terms of what he is- self-worth comes within. ▪Not competitive and cooperates, loves and lives productively. ▪Sharing with others increases enjoyment in life. HUMANISTIC COMMUNITARIAN SOCIALISM An ideal society in which love, brotherhood and solidarity characterizes all human relationships. HUMANISTIC COMMUNITARIAN SOCIALISM ❖ Man’s goal: ❖ TO GROW, TO DEVELOP, TO REALIZE HIS POTENTIAL. ❖ Failure to attain a productive character type or to become what one has the potential to become, results in unhappiness or even mental illness or even to become evil.