FROMM, ERICH

born March 23, 1900, Frankfurt am Main died March 18, 1980, Muralto, Switz. German-born U.S. psychoanalyst and social philosopher who explored the interaction between psychology and society. By applying psychoanalytic principles to the remedy of cultural ills, Fromm believed, mankind could develop a psychologically balanced sane society. After receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Heidelberg in 1922, Fromm trained in psychoanalysis at the University of Munich and at the Psycho-Analytic Institute of Berlin. He began practicing psychoanalysis as a disciple of Sigmund Freud but soon took issue with Freud's preoccupation with unconscious drives and consequent neglect of the role of societal factors in human psychology. For Fromm, an individual's personality was the product of his culture as well as his biology. He had already attained a distinguished reputation as a psychoanalyst when he left Nazi Germany in 1933 for the United States. There he came into conflict with orthodox Freudian psychoanalytic circles. From 1934 to 1941 Fromm was on the faculty of Columbia University, where his views became increasingly controversial. In 1941 he was a member of the faculty at Bennington College in Vermont, and in 1951 he was appointed professor of psychoanalysis at the Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico (National Autonomous University of Mexico), Mexico City. From 1957 to 1961 he concurrently held a professorship at Michigan State University, East Lansing, finally returning to New York City in 1962 as professor of psychiatry at New York University. In several books and essays, beginning with an essay (1930) on the development of Christian doctrine and symbolism (translated into English as The Dogma of Christ and Other Essays on Religion, Psychology, and Culture, 1963), Fromm presented the view that an understanding of basic human needs is essential to the understanding of society and mankind itself. Fromm argued that social systems make it difficult or impossible to satisfy the different needs at one time, thus creating both individual psychological and wider, societal conflicts. In Fromm's first major work, Escape from Freedom (1941), he charted the growth of human freedom and self-awareness from the Middle Ages to modern times and, using psychoanalytic techniques, analyzed the tendency of modern emancipated man to take refuge from his new insecurities by turning to totalitarian movements such as Nazism. In The Sane Society (1955), Fromm presented his argument that modern man has become alienated and estranged from himself within consumer-oriented industrial society. Fromm called for a rebirth of enlightenment in a new and perfect society which would allow each person to fulfill his individual needs while maintaining his sense of belonging through bonds of social brotherhood. Fromm's voluminous writings on human nature, ethics, and love attracted the interest of social scientists and a wide general readership. He also wrote books of criticism and analysis on Freudian and Marxist thought, psychoanalysis, and religion. Others of his books included Man for Himself (1947), Psychoanalysis and Religion (1950), The Art of Loving (1956), May Man Prevail? (1961, with D.T. Suzuki and R. De Martino), Beyond the Chains of Illusion (1962), The Revolution of Hope (1968), and The Crisis of Psychoanalysis (1970).