Erich Fromm was central to the Frankfurt Institute of Social Research under the direction of Max Horkheimer, but the works of each author, while handling at times similar issues, took different paths. The article’s aim is to analyze how Horkheimer’s anthropology, which would be of importance in Dialectic of Enlightenment, was built as the author embodied in his essays elements of Fromm’s social psychology, albeit overcoming some of its limitations, as well as suggesting new potentials of critique.
Erich Fromm was central to the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research under the direction of Max Horkheimer, but the works of each author, while handling at times similar issues, took different paths. The article’s aim is to analyze how Horkheimer’s anthropology, which would be of importance in Dialectic of Enlightenment, was built as the author critically embodied the core elements of his colleague’s social psychology in his essays. By doing so, Horkheimer could overcome some of the limitations of Fromm’s early work, as well as suggest new ways for critique.
O presente artigo tem por objeto o tratamento dado por Erich Fromm e Max Horkheimer ao fenômeno da integração social do proletariado. Além dos textos de ambos os autores, o artigo recorre às pesquisas empíricas conduzidas no início da década de 1930, no âmbito do Instituto de Pesquisa Social de Frankfurt. Mais especificamente, é analisada a pesquisa sobre a >estrutura de caráter< de trabalhadores alemães, coordenada por Erich Fromm, sendo também considerados os principais resultados das pesquisas que tinham por objeto as mudanças na sexualidade e na estrutura de autoridade da família europeia da época. Mostra-se como Horkheimer recorreu a conceitos centrais do pensamento de Marx ao examinar os temas dessas pesquisas, resultando em uma perspectiva capaz de apreender as mudanças sociais em curso.