Yearbook / Jahrbuch (1990-1995)
Schriften der Internationalen Erich-Fromm-Gesellschaft e.V.
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- 1994 (17) (remove)
w05/1994g
Attachment theory, as developed by Bowlby, and empirical research derived from it, beginning with Ainsworth's >Strange Situation< and the correlated home observations, are described. The studies of the transgenerational transmission of patterns and of the internal working models of the relationship, as well as longitudinal studies, are reported. The main focus of the paper is on cross-cultural studies, carried out in Germany, Israel and Japan. In North Germany, as compared to the U. S., there was a higher frequency of avoidant behavior in babies. This finding has been linked with the cultural demand for premature self-reliance. It is suggested that in the avoidant North German children we see the early ontogeny of the authoritarian character.
w05/1994h
>Psychoanalytic Considerations on the Defences from Confrontation with the Stranger<: The conscious and unconscious are qualities of the contents of the psyche attributed, for the most part, to social processes, that are themselves unconscious. In this way the conscious area is largely an illusion. The total man, from the most distant past to the potential future, remains unconscious. One is a member of society, but also member of the human race and, as such, citizen of the world. Humanism is the antithesis of all xenophobic nationalism, all racism and all prejudiced thought. The repression of emotions, sentiments and thoughts which strike the family harmony are part of a strategy of survival adopted by the individual from the start of infancy. The operation of estrangement begins from oneself in order to conform with the family and social environment. Ostracism is avoided by directing it towards repressed and split parts of oneself and towards all aspects on the outside to which those parts allude, according to the defence mechanisms of identifiaation with the aggressor and the projection. Not only is >primordial man< estranged, but also and above all man in his potentiality of development, the >new man< who has overcome narcissism and the symbioticincestuous attachment. The revolutionary character is the strangest of all in today's Western society. The Author supports these positions by the analysis of two dreams and by a brief history of witch hunt.
w05/1994i
>Die Rolle der Angst in der Beziehung zu uns selbst und zu anderen<: Dieser Beitrag sucht zu zeigen, dass es nicht genügt, angesichts der Krise der moralischen und zivilisatorischen Werte, in der sich die Menschheit gegenwärtig befindet, in einer passiven Zuschauerrolle zu verharren. Die Krise hat zu destruktiven Prozessen geführt, in denen der moderne Mensch sowohl Subjekt, als auch Objekt ist. Es wird davon ausgegangen, dass die Wahrnehmung eines anderen menschlichen Wesens als fremd phylogenetisch erklärt werden kann. Das soll heißen, dass der Ursprung in der tierischen Vorgeschichte unserer Spezies zu suchen ist, in einer Zeit, als die menschlichen Lebewesen sich von anderen Lebewesen noch nicht sehr unterschieden und wie sie fürchten mussten, im Kampf ums Überleben von Fremden angegriffen und übermannt zu werden. Im Verlauf der Evolution erwarb der Mensch jedoch Vernunft, wodurch wir befähigt wurden, unsere >erste Natur< zu überwinden. Wir konnten unser instinktives und archaisches Verhalten korrigieren, zumindest in den Aspekten, die für das menschliche Leben dysfunktional sind und die individuelle soziale Entwicklung behindern – dies gilt z. B. für die Furcht vor dem Fremden. Menschliche Wesen können nicht auf einen tierischen Status regredieren, deshalb können sie nicht anders, als sich ihrer menschlichen Eigenarten bewusst zu werden und in Harmonie mit ihren Artgenossen, die den Erdball bevölkern, zu leben. Menschliche Wesen müssen nicht nach Herrschaft steben; vielmehr sollen sich Humanität und Demut unter ihnen durchsetzen. Sie können nicht länger das Recht für sich in Anspruch nehmen, über Leben und Tod anderer Lebewesen zu entscheiden oder auch darüber, wer auf diesem Planeten als Fremder zu gelten hat.
w05/1994c
w05/1994b
w05/1994m
>On the Present Escalation of Violence: Causes, Connectivities, and Containment Strategies<: The current increase in youthful crimes of violence mainly directed against foreigners is often put down to defective education. This essay will have none of such simplifying explanations, pointing instead to a connection between >direct< (youthful) violence, >structural< violence (in the public sphere and the economy), and >cultural< violence (in the media). As to the psycho-social genesis of youthful crimes of violence, Helmut Johach distinguishes a >classically asocial< socialization type, mainly restricted to the lower class, from a >narcissistic< deviance syndrome that more characterizes the middle class. An alteration in socialization conditions, affecting both types equally, has been brought about by television more and more replacing primary social experiences in the family. The fact that youthful violence by skinheads and other rightist groups is mainly directed against foreigners is seen as being due to a post-reunification >drift to the right< in German public life and society at large – a drift also manifested in e.g. the asylum-seeker debate in the bundestag. Finally, the author locks horns with the thesis that the >anti-authoritarian upbringing< propagated in the aftermath of the 1968 student revolts has led to a >value decay< in today's younger generation. The ideological function of such pronouncements is to attract attention away from the real causes of the crisis, which are in the nature of the capitalist economic system. Helmut Johach concludes that calls for a >strong state< are quite wrongheaded if the aim is to combat rightwing radicalism; what is needed instead is a more energetic commitment to maintaining a democratic and socially concerned framework.