• search hit 1 of 239
Back to Result List

The Significance of Maternalism in the Evolution of Fromm's social thought

  • During his years as a member of the Frankfurt School, Erich Fromm developed a strong interest in the idea that there were distinctive male and female character orientations. Drawing on the positive evaluation of matriarchy made in the nineteenth century by the Swiss anthropologist J. J. Bachofen, Fromm argued that a >matricentric< psychic structure was more conducive to socialism than the patricentric structure which had predominated in capitalism. His interest in maternalism and his opposition to patriarchy played an important part in his rejection of Freud's theory of drives and in the development of a humanistic ethics in which love plays a central part. The idea of a gendered humanism is central to Fromm's social thought, although there is a danger that the over‐emphasis of sex‐based character differences unintentionally re‐opens the danger of the kind of sexual stereotyping which he resolutely opposed.

Export metadata

Additional Services

Share in Twitter Search Google Scholar
Metadaten
Author:Lawrence Wilde
Parent Title (English):The European Legacy, Vol. 9, No. 3 (2004), pp. 343-356. [Online ISSN 1470-1316] [doi.org/10.1080/1084877042000235504]
Document Type:Articles
Language:English
Year of first Publication:2004
Release Date:2024/04/04
Format:to purchase via publisher
IdNo:Wilde_L_2004b
Writings about Erich Fromm (Secondary Literature):Articles / Artikel
Erich Fromm's Library and Erich Fromm Archive:Articles / Artikel
Licence (German):
Einverstanden ✔
Diese Webseite verwendet technisch erforderliche Session-Cookies. Durch die weitere Nutzung der Webseite stimmen Sie diesem zu. Unsere Datenschutzerklärung finden Sie hier.