Refine
Language
- English (39) (remove)
Document Type
- Articles (24)
- Dissertations (12)
- Books (2)
- eBook (1)
Has Fulltext
- no (39) (remove)
Year of publication
- 2020 (39) (remove)
Revisiting Authoritarianism
(2020)
This article traces the roots of the Authoritarian Personality (AP) project in the neo-Freudian/phenomenological tradition of the Frankfurt School (FS). It focuses on three of its major proponents (Erich Fromm, Theodor Adorno and Herbert Marcuse) and examines the construction of the F-scale. It outlines how, according to FS-influenced scholars, the AP arose from the disciplinary measures inflicted on late 19th and early 20th century German middle-class youth, and details the sado-masochistic political style of the prototypical AP. It covers the critical reception of this characterization and explanation of authoritarianism by Bob Altemeyer and Anglo-American positivism. It concludes by arguing that in overlooking the inner life of the AP, positivism blinds us to compelling truths, about authoritarianism, and also about ourselves.
Fromm is one of the well-known .humanistic ethicists. His whole life had focused on people. In his view, loving is an art that can guide people to better survive and promote liberation. The existing researches on the ethical thought of loving mainly revolve around his theory of love and his practice of love, while relatively few studies are conducted from the perspective of overall humanistic ethics. It would help us, investigating his ethical thought of love into a humanistic perspective of ethics, so this paper attempts to grasp the ethical thought of love and its ideological implication with comprehensively. The tradition of Judaism love planted the seeds of loving in Fromm’s heart, while the difference of Johann Jakob Bachofen’s parental love inspires him to extend love from family to society, and Zen’s enlightenment method and Freud’s psychoanalytic theory helped him cast his psychological basis, Marx’s theory of humans and the critical theory of Frankfurt School provided him with theoretical weapons to criticize the abnormal phenomena of human being and society. Thanks to these theoretical basis from the great thinkers and schools, Fromm put forward his own theory on people, setting out a logical kick-off for his discourse on ethics of love. Fromm highlighted that loving was the answer to human existence. He underwent explorations of human survival dilemma and spiritual needs, approached a >prescription< that rooted in human beings, and prescribed his medication->recipe for love< involving both theory and practice, in which >giving< is the heart of love, and >caring about oneself<, >knowing oneself<, >respecting oneself<, >taking responsibility for oneself< treated respectively as motivation, prerequisite, necessary condition and fruits, forming the basic substances of his loving. When facing different practitioners, Fromm also called their differences. The general and specific requirements of the art of loving constituted his practicing of love. Fromm believed that only a combination of the two requirements could achieve the ethical goal of self-love and of a healthy society. First of all, the people who acts >self-love< is the ideal >moral newcomer<. He must have a productive character in this way, maintain independence as well as be integrated with others in the process of >assimilation< and >socialization<. Also, he should have good interpersonal relationships, and be able to cultivate a way of survival that emphasizes existence instead of possession, so as to realize the all-round development of people. Second, a healthy society, from Fromm’s perspective, was not only the prerequisite for real love, but also the goal of love of ethics. Fromm did not only carry out ethical criticism of various fields of society, but tried to present reform plans also. He made attempts to save people and restore human nature, and love was one of his criteria and conditions for measuring and achieving goals. In addition, Fromm’s love of ethics was not only a critique of authoritarian ethics or a supplement to scientism ethics, and it’s good for us to view the development of capitalism objectively. At the same time, this Paper is based on the reality of our country, trying to explore the beneficial factors for individual liberation and social development, in order to approach its realistic value. As could be seen, these values cannot erase the limitations of Fromm’s love of ethics, his utopian nature, the bias of the individual and the fragility of the theory of human nature, etc. up to a point, all of which had blocked his ethical purpose from realizing. [Translation: www.cnki.net, 4/2023]
This paper criticizes the emphasis placed by contemporary social theory and political philosophy on institutionalism as the basis for the understanding, legitimation and changing of institutions, or social systems, and society as a whole. The more impactful characteristic of institutionalism is its technical-logical structuring, based on an impartial, neutral and formal proceduralism that autonomizes social systems in relation to political praxis and social normativity, depoliticizing these social systems. Here, they are no longer depoliticized, but assume political centrality as the fundamental social subjects of the legitimation and evolution of institutions and society. The paper’s central argument is that it is necessary to re-politicize the institutions and the social subjects or social classes in order to ground and streamline a direct political praxis and the civil society’s social-political subjects as the basis for framing and legitimizing the current process of Western modernization. Recovering the politicity and the carnality of institutions, of social classes and of the evolution of society, is the fundamental task for a contemporary critical social theory that faces the strong institutionalism based on systemic theory. Such politicization is the unforgettable teaching of Karl Marx and Erich Fromm: the institutions have political content and political subjects, they are the result of social struggles for hegemony between opposed social classes which are political. Now, such politicity-carnality must be unveiled and used for an emancipatory democratic political praxis as the route for social analysis and political change, in opposition to the technical-logical understanding both of the institutions and of the social subjects.
There are important studies that have directly focused on how, in times of conflict, it is possible for previously law abiding people to commit the most atrocious acts of cruelty and violence. The work of Erich Fromm (>Escape from Freedom<), Hannah Arendt (>Eichmann in Jerusalem<), Zygmunt Bauman (>Modernity and the Holocaust<) and Ernest Becker (>Escape from Evil<) have all contemplated the driving force of aggression and mass violence to further our understanding of how people are capable of engaging in extreme forms of cruelty and violence. This paper specifically addresses these issues by focusing on C. P. Taylor’s play >Good<. This provocative play examines how a seemingly >good< and intelligent university professor can gradually become caught up in the workings of the Third Reich. Taylor highlights the importance of appreciating how people can be steadily incorporated into an ideologically destructive system. I argue that the theatre is a powerful medium to explore these complex issues. The audience of >Good< find themselves confronted with the following question – >What would you have done?<
Love plays an important role in people’s daily life. Sufficient research on the theme of >love< is helpful to promote the harmonious and friendly interpersonal relationship and the improvement of social civilization. Erich Fromm as a western Marxist, after the objective analysis and observation of the capitalist society, He thinks that with the development of capitalist society, love has become a relatively rare phenomenon. Its expression is the phenomenon of dissimilation and decay of love. Fromm systematically expounded his theory of love through a series of works such as the art of love. The formation of Fromm’s thought has profound social background and theoretical source. The two world wars, the mechanization tendency of social life and other problems caused by capitalist society had a profound influence on the formation of Fromm’s theory. The theories of Marx and Freud constitute the ideological source of Fromm’s theory of love. The capitalist social environment also has a profound negative impact on relationships and love.– Based on this, Fromm explains his theory of love in detail from four aspects: the source, elements, form and how to obtain love, and points out various manifestations and problems of the alienation of love in capitalist society. Fromm’s theory of love, it can provide theoretical reference for helping people to set up correct ideas and promote harmonious and friendly interpersonal relationship and social development, but Fromm was a psychoanalytic psychologist and a Freudian Marxist, his exposition of the theory of love focuses on the aspects of psychological analysis and social culture. To some extent, it ignores the influence and restriction of objective practice, social life development level on people’s psychological consciousness and the relationship between people’s emotion-love. He advocated social reform and psychological revolution to solve the problems in capitalist society, without seeing that its essence is the reflection and expression of the inherent contradictions of a capitalist society. This is the limitation of his theory of love. The harmonious development of the society needs the harmonious and friendly interpersonal relationship and the promotion of family affection and friendship. Today, we are advancing the socialist modernization drive, Fromm’s theory of love has some reference significance in this respect. [Translation: www.cnki.net, 4/2023]
Extremely important and basic category of Marx’s ideological system, the part of Marxist theories about human value, starting from the >realistic person< and aiming at realizing human value, is formed by examining the nature, alienation, liberation and all-round development of human from the perspective of human itself and its subjectivity, socially and practicality. Theoretically speaking, studying on Marxist human value thought provides theoretical support for contemporary China in the transition period on how to scientifically understand human nature and human development; practically speaking, this part is put forward on the basis of criticizing capitalist commodity economy so that studying it is of great significance to guide, further promotion of all-round development of human being.– First of all, Marx’s ideas of human value are raised under the realistic background of a series of unfairness existing in the capitalist private ownership system. They are based on such a social context, with severe class contradictions between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, and poor workers trapped in extreme misery in the era of booming capitalism, as well as the theoretical background of the utopia socialism and the viewpoints of the German classical philosophers. These ideas derive mainly from three aspects of Hegel’s view of human nature and Feuerbach’s theory of humanism: human nature, human development and value targets. Marx admitted the significance, and content differentiation. Secondly, it analyzes the forming process of Marx’s value thought of human being, and divides the forming process into four stages. The period from the doctoral dissertation to the >German French Yearbooks< […] is the embryonic period of Marx’s value thought on human beings. Under the influence of Hegel’s self-consciousness and Hegel’s thinking on abstract human nature with Hegel’s language, Marx discussed the values of >human freedom< […]. Through the criticism of civil society and the research and >Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right<, Marx revealed the social reality of cannibalism under the capitalist private system. In the period from >Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844< to >The German Ideology<, Marx analyzed the alienation of human and its origin from the perspective of economics It is the first time to use the concept of >realistic individual< to criticize the abstract values of human beings, to discuss the >realistic person<, to make new regulations on the values of human beings, and to point out that the essence of human beings is the sum of all social relations; >The Communist Manifesto< is the rich period of Marx’s values of human beings. In this period, Marx’s Historical Materialism has been developed the basic formation, using the weapon of Historical Materialism, analyzes the process of the development of human society, and further puts forward that the ultimate goal of human values is to achieve the free and all-round development of human beings, and the future society of human beings is a communist society; the period of >Capital< and the >three Manuscripts< is the sublimation period of Marx’s human value thought, during which Marx makes in-depth analysis. The relationship between the development of >real man< and the social development, points out the three stages of the realization of man’s value, and finds out the factors that hinder man’s development.– Finally, Marx’s thought of human value has a significant impact on Western Marxism humanism, which has triggered the Western Marxism humanism thoughts. At the same time, it has important theoretical foundation significance and practical guidance significance for China, which is currently in a period of social transformation. It is still an indispensable >critical weapon< of our era. No matter the representative of Western Marxism such as Fromm and Marcuse, who start from the early manuscripts of Marx >Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844<, or those persons who start from the mature texts of Marx >The Communist Manifesto< and >Capital<, such as Lukács and Gramsci. Although there are big differences in their ideas, it can be found that an axis and the theme around them is that there is only one Marx, that is, Marxism with the highest purpose of eliminating alienation as the realization of human value, human liberation, free and all-round development. The influence of Marxist human values on the theory of western capitalism is also enlightening to China in the transition period. Under the background of faster and faster social development and accelerated economic globalization, we should draw on the attention of Western Marxists to human beings, pay attention to the development of human subjectivity, adhere to the people-oriented ideology, and strive to achieve human value and the true existence of human create sufficient social conditions for the free and all-round development and liberation of human beings. [Translation: www.cnki.net, 4/2023]
The current era is often referred to as the era of big data. The development of information technology makes almost everything related to data. Different fields have different data. Everyone is generating data, and everyone lives in the data. While people enjoy the convenience of life brought by big data, the spiritual confusion has not been resolved. This article analyzes and thinks about Fromm’s human thoughts, and takes this as his starting point to reflect on the spiritual dilemma of people in the era of big data.– This article first gives a brief overview of the current research situation of Fromm’s human thoughts at home and abroad, and puts forward his own research goals. The first chapter makes a brief analysis on the background and sources of Fromm’s humanistic thought. The second and third chapters make a concrete analysis of Fromm’s anthropological thoughts: the second chapter focuses on the analysis of Fromm’s theories about human existence, and the third chapter focuses on his theory of social personality and social unconsciousness A brief explanation, and pointed out that these his theories are still applicable to the analysis of the social character and unconsciousness of people in the era of big data. Chapter 4 mainly clarifies the basic concepts of big data, and the reason why Fromm’s ideas are still valuable in today’s big data era. During these forty years, the major contradictions in Western society have not fundamentally changed, the living conditions of people have not improved much, and their capabilities have not been fundamentally exerted.– Combining this reality, this article takes Fromm’s humanistic thoughts as the starting point, deeply analyzes the morbid human phenomenon in the current era, and analyzes the mental dilemma of people in the era of big data from four aspects of catering to data, interfering with data, relying on data and possessing data. These pathological phenomena are also the contemporary portrayal of Fromm's ideas about the dichotomy and unproductive society of human existence 40 years ago. Similarly, his solution has similarities with Marx’s plan, and it has some reference significance. Based on this understanding, the author affirmed that Fromm’s anthropological thinking still has its significance in this era of big data. [Translation: www.cnki.net, 4/2023]
This paper provides a historical overview of the reception of the superego concept in sociology and psychoanalytic social psychology. Central to the discussion are the ways in which classical and contemporary approaches (e.g. Parsons, Elias, Bourdieu) have responded to Freud’s theories concerning the genesis of the superego and its changes in the course of psychic development, to his suppositions concerning anthropology and psychopathology, and to later psychoanalytic extensions of the concept (e.g. Klein, Erikson and Loewald). With reference to Freud’s works of cultural critique, special emphasis is given to conceptions of the superego in studies on authoritarianism, adaptation and morality, notably by the Frankfurt School (Fromm, Horkheimer, Adorno). The authors also discuss the historical changes undergone by the superego concept and examine by way of examples the benefits of concept for achieving a clearer understanding of recent societal trends associated with contemporary phenomena such as digitization and optimization.
Toni Morrison(1931 – 2019), a renowned and influential African-American literary giant who enjoys univer¬sal acclaim, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993, making her the first black woman who ever receives this distinction ever since the award started. Throughout her literary career, her novel achievement has undoubtedly become a monument in the history of African-American literature. Morrison’s novels are deeply concerned about the destiny of African-Americans and the survival of their cultural identity in the white mainstream society. >God Help the Child< is Morrison’s 11th novel which officially came out to public in 2015. Contrary to her previous works that are based on the American histories, >God Help the Child< is her first novel that is set in contemporary American life in the 1990s. Main characters of the novel are Bride, Sweetness and Booker. The novel mainly reveals the various injuries and crises encountered by different characters in society, and reveals the complex relationship between family, couples, and friends. The society is developing rapidly nowadays, whereas, people can’t feel the existence of love and the value of self-existence, only to find themselves deeply shrouded in the cage of loneliness. As a result, people are eager to find a way to re-establish connections with others and to rediscover the meaning of life. Social theorist and psychoanalyst Fromm once lamented the fact of people’s spiritual crises and the collapse of traditional values. In response to this phenomenon, by making love the core of his study, Fromm puts forward his love theory to help human beings get rid of the plight of loneliness. In Fromm’s eyes, love is the only answer to solve human beings’ existential problems. Combined with Fromm’s theory of love, this thesis intends to analyze Bride’s predicament of loneliness in >God Help the Child<, and how she successfully escapes from loneliness by connecting love with other people.– This thesis consists of five parts. The first part is the introduction to Toni Morrison, >God Help the Child<, Fromm and his theory of love. In the second part, combined with Fromm’s theory of motherly love, erotic Love and brotherly love, this thesis points out Bride’s dilemma of loneliness by analyzing Bride’s relationship with her mother, her ex-boyfriends, and her friends. The third and the fourth parts deeply analyze the reasons that have engendered Bride’s plight of loneliness by thoroughly demonstrating the social as well as Bride’s personal causes. The fifth part demonstrates how Bride succeeds in getting rid of the shackles of loneliness and successfully regaining the value of her self-existence and the meaning of life by nurturing love to other people. The last part is the conclusion part, which points out that in the contemporary society where spiritual crises are widespread, only by proactively looking for effective solutions and establishing healthy love connections with other people, can human beings eliminate loneliness and regain the meaning of life. [Translation: www.cnki.net, 4/2023]
This paper takes Erich Fromm’s exposition on faith crisis as the research object, and places the background of worldwide faith crisis as the entry point, trying to discuss the negative effect of faith crisis. As a psychologist and psychoanalyst, Fromm studied the formation and development of the belief crisis theory from the perspective of >human<, fully explained the theoretical core of Fromm’s faith crisis theory, and conducted a dialectical analysis and discussion of Fromm’s faith crisis theory.– First of all, the article analyzes the formation background of Fromm’s faith crisis theory and introduces the historical background and current status of development from a historical macro perspective and a micro personal perspective, by analyzing the changes in Fromm’s personal faith patterns, we can have a holistic overview of his faith crisis theory. Fromm’s faith crisis theory inherited and developed Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis and Karl Heinrich Marx’s theory, especially inherited Freud’s character theory, and then it created social character theory, and provided research for the crisis of faith. The connection between Fromm’s faith crisis theory, Marx’s alienation theory, and historical materialism theory lay a solid basis of this paper.– The second is to sort out the content of Fromm’s faith crisis theory and analyze the concepts related to faith, including the definition of faith, religion, and faith crisis. By analyzing the subject of faith crisis, Fromm carefully sorted out Fromm’s exposition of >the birth of man<, reflecting Fromm’s principle of paying attention to the subject status of man. By analyzing the social character structure and spiritual structure in Fromm’s faith crisis theory, it is found that the theory of human spiritual structure and character structure is not only a standard for dividing faith types, but also an important basis for solving the crisis of human faith.– Thirdly, it makes a dialectical evaluation of Fromm’s faith crisis theory. On the one hand, it explains the rationality of inheriting and applying Marxist theory in Fromm’s faith crisis theory, On the other hand, it explains the limitations of the theory.– Finally, it discusses the practical enlightenment of Fromm’s faith crisis theory, and mainly explains how to play the role of social personality theory in the process of cultivation and shaping of creative personality as well as rational faith. [Translation: www.cnki.net, 4/2023]
Strains on professional resources and complex experiences of isolation and despair have taken their toll on communities, adding to the challenges for social workers and social work as a profession. In a context of austerity and locational stress, communities are increasingly relied upon to enhance or, indeed, replace the need for state intervention. However, grass-roots and mutual aid collectives have the potential for both community support and resistance. Using original qualitative data, this article explores how some groups based in Scotland’s most deprived locales provide collective and mutual aid, and, in doing so, attempt to address some of the challenges of modern life (such as overcoming addiction, isolation and mental anguish). Importantly, this article revives and develops Erich Fromm’s discourse on the importance of ‘love’ and Marx’s concept of ‘spiritual emancipation’ to explore the potential for transforming individual experiences into collective resistance.
This article focuses on the role that the notion of temporality can and should play in the tradition of Critical Theory. Following an overview of the critical analyses of time found in the works of Marx, Lukács, Weber, Adorno, Fromm, and Marcuse, the article analyzes Hartmut Rosa’s critique of social acceleration and argues that this critique lacks a firm normative basis. This basis is required, however, for one to claim why certain processes of social acceleration are wrong. It is shown that Rosa’s analyses of acceleration contain two suggestions for such a basis: autonomy understood as a narrative identity, and autonomy as defended by Honneth’s theory of recognition. After an exploration of both suggestions, in which the ideas of MacIntyre and Ricoeur are briefly discussed as well, it is argued that a combination of both may result in a specific, normative understanding of reification, which is defended against Honneth’s definition of this concept. Based on an interpretation of passages in Horkheimer and Adorno’s >Dialectic of Enlightenment< and Adorno’s notion of >working through the past<, the article claims that reification should be understood as a forgetting of the narratives that have shaped the self and the social structures under which this self is formed, and therefore as the inability to recognize the temporal dimensions of the autonomous self.
A Frommian perspective on the socio-psychological structure of post-fascism in liberal democracies
(2020)
My research explores Erich Fromm’s social theories of narcissism, alienation and authoritarianism for the purpose of linking those theories together, thereby analysing current populist phenomena as an extension of a fascist development in terms of Enzo Traverso’s conception of post-fascism. In my view, Fromm’s critical social theory of narcissism, which pertains to his two other theories, has great potential to unravel current political issues in liberal democracies that are generally tackled in terms of populism. Through a demonstration of the theoretical scope of Fromm’s social theory, which sheds light on pathological social and political phenomena in historical continuity, I argue that the primary tasks of Critical Theory in Frommian terms are to divulge the sources of fascist orientations in seemingly democratic practice and to offer appropriate remedies for these difficulties. In this light, I conclude that in terms of a Frommian social theory of narcissism, fascist types of politics thrive even in advanced liberal-democratic countries, taking the form of authoritarian populism, particularly where society rests on a narcissistic character structure intertwined with an authoritarian orientation.
The article explains the importance of forming identity for the psychological and spiritual development of an individual. The author notes that the role of folk culture in the formation of national identity in modern society has diminished, and it analyzes the socio-psychological conditions in which the specific role of folk culture can be restored: modern economic and socio-cultural activities of new cultural functions; acquisition by assimilation by species; creation of favorable environment, including information environment; unifying the community around the main objectives of the educational process; to look for new educational practices and to consider cultural and historical psychology. Indeed, >one of the worst forms of psychological suffering is boredom, not knowing what to do with yourself and your life<, concluded Fromm. The consequences of the state not formed by individuals or the loss of identity become a crisis of national identity, which is a prerequisite for the loss of national sovereignty (national self-consciousness). Problem researchers tell us that the >living< of our native culture, the deep emotional connection with it, and the understanding of the meanings of it, are made by the individual, the customs, values, special forms of cultural, historical, social and spiritual life of the motherland. Book publishing centers, Russian culture of all nations, etc. Their self-awareness in difficult financial conditions made people think not only about survival, but also to adopt a language and culture that was alien to them.