Erich Fromm is a representative of neo-Freudianism. In his works, he focuses on social factors affecting both character and human life. One of the main ideas was the idea that a person should be connected with a person through love.
Erich Fromm is a psychoanalyst, the author of the concept of humanistic psychoanalysis, the founder of neo-Freudianism. All his life he devoted to the study of the subconscious and the contradictions of human existence in the world.
Biography
Erich Fromm was born in Germany into a Jewish family in 1900. His dad owned a wine shop, and his mother was the daughter of a rabbi who emigrated from Poznan. Almost all his childhood was spent in Frankfurt. He attended a national children's school, where the emphasis was placed not only on subjects of the general education cycle, but also on creeds and religious traditions. In 1918, Erich entered the University of Geldberg, where he immersed himself in the world of philosophy, psychology and sociology. In 1922 he defended his doctoral dissertation. Training by profession was completed at the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute.
When the years of education are in the past, Fromm opens his own private practice. He continued to study her for the next 5 years. Active interaction with clients served as the basis for rethinking the relationship between biological and social in the process of the formation of the human psyche.
When Hitler came to power in 1933, Erich moved to live in Geneva, and later to New York. There he begins to engage in teaching activities. Important events in life:
- 1938 begins to publish his numerous works in English, and not in German.
- 1943 takes part in the formation of the Department of the Washington School of Psychiatry.
- 1950 he moved to live in Mexico, researched socially significant projects, published the book Healthy Society.
- 1968 is experiencing its first heart attack.
Erich Fromm died in his home in Switzerland in 1980.
Personal life
The author of many scientific works had three wives:
- Frida Reichman. The psychoanalyst who became known for working effectively with schizophrenics. Family ties were destroyed in 1933, but friendships remained for many years.
- Henny Gurland Her health problems became the main reason for moving to Mexico, where she died in 1952. His wife worked as a photojournalist and was 10 years older than the scientist. At the time of the acquaintance, she had a 17-year-old son, in whose fate Fromm took an active part.
- Annis Freeman. An American hails from Alabama. She was two years younger than her husband. With her, the scientist lived 27 years until the end of his life. It was she who prompted him to write the book “The Art of Love”, which summarized the culturological ideas of love with her direct experience.
Sociologist career
The researcher began to engage in psychiatry and psychology, when in the West it became fashionable to write about the secrets of knowledge, phenomena. Throughout his life, he remained faithful to the anthropological theme. However, in no of his works were anthropological views systematically presented.
The coming to power of Hitler was perceived by the population of Germany positively. Fromm concluded that responsibility for one’s fate is an unbearable burden for most people. For this reason, in his opinion, the people are ready to part with freedom.
When Erich Fromm becomes the head of the department of social psychology, active research begins on the unconscious motives of social groups. Thanks to them, it was concluded that the masses would not only not resist the nascent fascism, but would bring it to power.
This was due to unemployment, inflation and other difficult circumstances. According to the sociologist, this led to the desire to abandon the privileges that are given by freedom. The book “Escape from Freedom”, which exposed various varieties of totalitarianism, brought the author fame in America and hatred in Germany.
The rethinking and development of Freud's theory was the impetus for the formation of one of the most influential areas of the humanities - neo-Freudianism. She emphasizes the idea of self-actualization. According to the scientist, the most important fruit of every person’s efforts is his own personality.
Fromm shifts the emphasis from biological motives to social factors, balancing these two concepts. In his works, he relies on the concept of the alienation of man from his essence in the process of work and life. In this case, the subject begins to be used as a tool or tool, but not as a goal.
