Society as Destiny

  • Investigated is Erich FROMM's concept of social character (see, eg, >The Sane Society<, New York: Rinehart, 1955), which refers to aspects of personality shared in a society, or subsociety, due to socialization effects resulting from common exposure to the same institutional practices, notably to efforts of economic institutions. FROMM proposes that within complex Western societies, the same language is used differently in differing socioeconomic groups. These theses are tested against the results of several empirical studies, including one that compared the treatment of psychiatric patients of middle- and lower-class origins (Grey, Alan, >Social Class and the Psychiatric Patient: A Study in Composite Character<, Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 1966, 2, 87-121). Results indicate that FROMM's prediction of greater alienation among the middle class is not sustained, but that there are other significant class differences. In general, FROMM's conceptualization provides a useful tool for integrating social science with clinical psychoanalysis.

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Metadaten
Author:Alan L. Grey
Parent Title (English):Contemporary Psychoanalysis, New York (William Alanson White Psychoanalytic Society), Vol. 28 (1992), pp. 344-363.
Document Type:Articles
Language:English
Year of first Publication:1992
Release Date:2014/01/28
Format:PDF-scan to download
IdNo:Grey_A_L_1992
Writings about Erich Fromm (Secondary Literature):Articles / Artikel
Erich Fromm's Library and Erich Fromm Archive:Articles / Artikel
Licence (German):
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