Character, Society, and the Politics of Hope. A Comparative Look at the Theories of Wilhelm Reich, Erich Fromm and Herbert Marcuse
- The attempt at establishing the interrelationship between character, society and the politics of liberation is what unites the efforts of these 3 Freudian theorists. Wilhelm Reich's focus was on character. His search for a >prophylaxis of neurosis< through character analysis led him into sociology and the problem of social change through radical political activity. Erich FROMM addressed the >problem of man< by attempting to marry a humanistic, marxian, critical social science to a psychoanalytic theory which was stripped of its mystical and conservative social implications. Herbert Marcuse's project was to lay the philosophical foundation for a unification of social theory and revolutionary praxis. In the face of 20th century totalitarianism, each sought an incentive to act and a reason to hope, in Freud's concept of the >dynamic unconscious<. It was only a concept of fundamental human psychological, social or biological >needs< (needs which, if unmet, would necessarily motivate resistance to oppression and domination) that could counteract the pessimistic previews of the behavior shapers. aa
MetadatenAuthor: | R. B. Neill |
---|
Parent Title (English): | Humboldt Journal of Social Relations, Vol. 2 (No. 2, 1975), pp. 36-48. |
---|
Document Type: | Articles |
---|
Language: | English |
---|
Year of first Publication: | 1975 |
---|
Release Date: | 2014/01/28 |
---|
Format: | PDF-scan to download |
---|
IdNo: | Neill_R_B_1975a |
---|
Writings about Erich Fromm (Secondary Literature): | Articles / Artikel |
---|
Erich Fromm's Library and Erich Fromm Archive: | Articles / Artikel |
---|
Licence (German): | |
---|