TY - JOUR A1 - Fuchs, Christian A1 - Sun, Jianyin T1 - Fromm and the Critical Theory of Communication [弗洛姆与交往批判理论] JF - Foreign Theoretical Trends [国外理论动态], No. 3 (2021), pp. 44-55. N2 - 埃里希·弗洛姆是马克思主义精神分析学家、哲学家和社会主义人道主义者。本文探究的问题是:在数字和交往资本主义时代如何运用和修正弗洛姆的交往批判理论,以提供一种批判的视角。为了给出这一问题的答案,本文从交往、意识形态和技术等三个方面讨论了弗洛姆的一些观点,这些观点使我们能够更好地理解人类的交往过程。弗洛姆的研究方法可以从多个方面为交往批判理论提供参考:他的社会性格概念为这种理论提供了批判心理学的基础。他对权威主义性格与人道主义性格的区分可以用来区分权威主义的交往与人道主义的交往。弗洛姆的作品也可以为意识形态批判提供参考:占有的意识形态塑造了资本主义的生活、思想、语言和社会行为。在资本主义社会中,包括数字计算在内的技术被奉为拜物教的神明,量化逻辑塑造了社会关系。弗洛姆对人道化的技术和参与式计算的追求可以为当代关于数字资本主义及其替代方案的争论提供参考。 N2 - Erich Fromm was a Marxist psychoanalyst, philosopher and socialist humanist. The question this paper explores is how Fromm's critical theory of communication can be applied and modified to provide a critical perspective in the age of digital and interactional capitalism. In order to provide an answer to this question, the paper discusses some of Fromm's ideas from three perspectives: communication, ideology, and technology, which allow us to better understand the process of human interaction. Fromm's research approach can inform the critical theory of communication in several ways: his concept of social character provides the basis for this theory in critical psychology. His distinction between authoritarian and humanitarian character can be used to distinguish authoritarian interactions from humanitarian ones. Fromm's work can also inform a critique of ideology: the ideology of appropriation shapes capitalist life, thought, language, and social behavior. In capitalist societies, where technology, including number-crun¬ching, is worshipped as a god of fetishism, the logic of quantification shapes social relations. Fromm's pursuit of humanized technology and participatory computing can inform contemporary debates about digital capitalism and its alternatives. [Translation: www.DeepL/Translator, free version, 7/2021] Y1 - 2021 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fuchs, Christian T1 - Donald Trump: A Critical Theory-Perspective on Authoritarian Capitalism JF - TripleC, Vol. 15, No. 1 (2017), pp. 1-72. [ISSN 1726-670X] [doi.org/10.31269/triplec.v15i1.835] N2 - This paper analyses economic power, state power and ideological power in the age of Donald Trump with the help of critical theory. It applies the critical theory approaches of thinkers such as Franz Neumann, Theodor W. Adorno and Erich Fromm. It analyses changes of US capitalism that have together with political anxiety and demagoguery brought about the rise of Donald Trump. This article draws attention to the importance of state theory for understanding Trump and the changes of politics that his rule may bring about. It is in this context important to see the complexity of the state, including the dynamic relationship between the state and the economy, the state and citizens, intra-state relations, inter-state relations, semiotic representations of and by the state, and ideology. Trumpism and its potential impacts are theorised along these dimensions. The ideology of Trump (Trumpology) has played an important role not just in his business and brand strategies, but also in his political rise. The (pseudo-)critical mainstream media have helped making Trump and Trumpology by providing platforms for populist spectacles that sell as news and attract audiences. By Trump making news in the media, the media make Trump. An empirical analysis of Trump’s rhetoric and the elimination discourses in his NBC show >The Apprentice< underpins the analysis of Trumpology. The combination of Trump’s actual power and Trump as spectacle, showman and brand makes his government’s concrete policies fairly unpredictable. An important question that arises is what social scientists’ role should be in the conjuncture that the world is experiencing. Y1 - 2017 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fuchs, Christian T1 - M. N. Roy and the Frankfurt School: Socialist Humanism and the Critical Analysis of Communication, Culture, Technology, Fascism and Nationalism JF - TripleC, Vol. 17, No. 2 (2019), pp. 249-286. [ISSN 1726-670X] [doi.org/10.31269/triplec.v17i2.1118] N2 - Manabendra Nath Roy (1887-1954) was the founder of the Communist Parties of Mexico and India and a socialist-humanist philosopher. In the Western world, his works are today widely ignored and forgotten. This article introduces some philosophical aspects of Roy’s thought. It engages with foundations of his theory and shows its relevance for the study of communication, culture, technology, the human being, fascism, and nationalism. Frankfurt School thinkers such as Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Herbert Marcuse, and Erich Fromm were interested in similar topics to Roy. This article also compares the approach of Roy and the Frankfurt School. It shows parallels between Roy and the first generation of the Frankfurt School with respect to themes such as the dialectic of technology and society, the dialectic of the Enlightenment, fascism, nationalism, and authoritarianism. In the age of new nationalisms and authoritarian capitalism, global environmental crises, capitalist crisis, and the digital crisis, socialist-humanist theories such as M. N. Roy’s can inspire struggles for a humanist and socialist society as antidotes to the acceleration and deepening of the three crises. Y1 - 2019 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fuchs, Christian T1 - Erich Fromm and the Critical Theory of Communication JF - Humanity & Society, Vol. 44 (2020), pp. 298-325. [Online ISSN 2372-9708] [doi.org/10.1177/0160597620930157] N2 - Erich Fromm (1900–1980) was a Marxist psychoanalyst, philosopher, and socialist humanist. This article asks: How can Fromm’s critical theory of communication be used and updated to provide a critical perspective in the age of digital and communicative capitalism? In order to provide an answer, this article discusses elements from Fromm’s work that allow us to better understand the human communication process. The focus is on communication (the second section), ideology (the third section), and technology (the fourth section). Fromm’s approach can inform a critical theory of communication in multiple respects: His notion of the social character allows to underpin such a theory with foundations from critical psychology. Fromm’s distinction between the authoritarian and the humanistic character can be used for discerning among authoritarian and humanistic communication. Fromm’s work can also inform ideology critique: the ideology of having shapes life, thought, language, and social action in capitalism. In capitalism, technology (including computing) is fetishized and the logic of quantification shapes social relations. Fromm’s quest for humanist technology and participatory computing can inform contemporary debates about digital capitalism and its alternatives. Y1 - 2020 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fuchs, Christian T1 - Communication and Society, in: Communication and Capitalism – A Critical Theory, London (University of Westminster Press) 2020, pp. 69-108. Y1 - 2020 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fuchs, Christian T1 - Death and Love: The Metaphysics of Communication, in: Communication and Capitalism – A Critical Theory, London (University of Westminster Press) 2020, pp. 313-336. Y1 - 2020 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fuchs, Christian T1 - Authoritarian capitalism, authoritarian movements and authoritarian communication JF - Media, Culture & Society, Vol 40, No. 5 (2018), pp. 779-791. [Online ISSN 1460-3675] [doi.org/10.1177/0163443718772147] N2 - Paolo Gerbaudo’s book >The Mask and the Flag: Populism, Citizenism and Global Protest<, whose approach is reflected in his Crosscurrents piece in the issue of >Media, Culture & Society< at hand, is a response to these societal, political and academic challenges. This Cross Currents comment asks, I ask, the following: Why is it that right-wing authoritarian populism in recent times has become much more popular than left-wing movements? How do right-wing authoritarian movements communicate? Why is it that right-wing political communication strategies seem to garner and result in mass support? The critical theory of authoritarianism advanced by the Frankfurt School and related authors on fascism, Nazism, and the authoritarian personality help us to critically analyse the communication of authoritarianism. In this context, particularly the works by Franz Leopold Neumann, Erich Fromm, Theodor W. Adorno, Herbert Marcuse, Leo Löwenthal, and Willhelm Reich are relevant. Y1 - 2018 ER -