Going Back: Who Was Eric Fromm?

Have you ever thought of the meaning of “freedom”? Usually, “freedom” is considered a happy and desirable thing for humans. However, Erich Fromm, a German social psychologist, provided a different point of view in his book, Escape From Freedom.

Who is Erich Fromm?

Erich Fromm was born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1900. He majored in psychology at universities in Heidelberg and Frankfurt. After that, he was engaged in psychoanalysis as well. Aiming to apply psychoanalysis methods to a real-life social phenomenon-so-called neo-Freudianism, he was one of the influential and important figures in the social psychology sphere. Threatened by the Natiz, he escaped to the U.S and was naturalized there. Fromm held important positions in various universities in Mexico and other places and passed away in 1980. His chief books are Escape From Freedom (1941), Man for Himself (1947), The Art of Loving (1956), The Revolution of Hope (1968), etc.

Escape From Freedom

Fromm thought of personalities as not merely individual things but as something common in the members of society. Fromm insisted that on the one hand, modern people have gained freedom, being released from feudalistic restriction, on the other hand, people came to be exposed to loneliness, anxiety, and helplessness: Thus “escape from freedom” to get rid of those feelings, obey authority, and finally shape an authoritarianism personality. Fromm applied this mechanism to explain the mind of people who advocated the Natiz and the American pop culture.

By Yuho Tanizaki

Editor Suhh Yeon Kim

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