The Fear of Freedom (Routledge Classics) [Paperback]

This is an important work, one of the greatest book I've read to date on social psychology and possibly psychology per se for both the insights it provides into people and the ease of reading to the general reader or psychologist alike.

In the main Fromm's wrote books for as wide a readership as possible aiming to avoid jargon or a convoluted or difficult style of writing, I believe will prove interesting, easy reading for the general reader as much as students of psychology or academics.

The book begins with consideration of freedom as a psychological problem, why has the concept lost its once popular appeal? Why has this once inspiring, hopeful and visionary concept fallen so far out of favour that people actively seek ways of surrendering their freedom?

Fromm continues with an investigation of how the concept of freedom has developed since medieval times and the reformation. There are chapters on the psychology of Nazism, freedom and democracy and facets of freedom for modern man. Most importantly there is investigation of how people seek to escape freedom through authoritarianism, destructiveness and conformity.

Fromm's considers not simply the political and public life, how authoritarian leaders and movements often win the support of the people who are least likely to benefit from their success or may even suffer by their success but also individual relationships, such as the perpetrators and those who submit to domestic violence.

The depiction of "caring" sadists, incapable of independence from the very "objects" of their persecution, torment and control freakery, or masochists who relish the dependency of others while appearing to be the greatest advocates for the powerless and unfortunate is intriguing.

As Fromm suggests not a few reformers and revolutionaries fit that profile, he elaborates on this in The Dogma of Christ: And Other Essays on Religion, Psychology and Culture (Routledge Classics) when he considers the characters of rebels and revolutionaries.

In this book Fromm concentrates upon description rather than prescription, unlike To Have or to be? or The Sane Society (Routledge Classics). There are no quick fixes or solutions proposed here, at least not in the sense of structural adjustments or social reform agendas, but it does suggest insights that make life less baffling.

A book that deserves to be read and reread, reaching as wide a possible readership as it can. One thing is for sure, you cant read this book and remain unchanged.

This book is one of, if not THE best book I've ever read and has been a massive influence on me.

Laid out in it is a very clear and well argued discussion of how capitalism has freed man from a society that reduced him to a single role, to a position of existential freedom. But at a price. Now man has no fixed position or role, and has to find/create a place for himself in the world. This is a cause of a huge amount of anxiety, and due to man's psychological need to 'belong' to something Fascism, Nazism, nationalism and religious extremism are the result, as they provide a simple "us vs. them" ideology which gives adherent something bigger to be a part of. Also a part of the thesis is how conformity and judgmental (and usually painfully bourgeois) reactionaries are a product of repression, anxiety and just plain resentment.

The psychology takes a lot from Freud, but also moves beyond that - and bettering it in my opinion - avoiding a lot of the pitfalls. It also has a lot of similarity to Camus or Sartre in many ways with a huge emphasis on man's freedom.

This book is of interest to psychologists, philosophers, artists (check out the ending!), and people of all political persuasions.

It's a masterpiece of impassioned humanistic thought, with a real concern (it was written during WW 2) for human freedom, solidarity, creativity and the horrors of Fascism.

Just read it!

Erich Fromm is certainly one of the great "unknowns", compared to the other giants of psychology and its related disciplines - Freud, Skinner, Chomsky. But Fromm develops an amazingly refreshing theory of the human psyche, and an extremely plausible one.

Fromm attempts to balance three aspects of the psyche: its biological, social and existential aspect. Many thinkers in psychology tend to concentrate on one area (mainly biological Darwinism in today's world), but Fromm faces all three issues head on, and in a clear and succinct fashion.

The book manages to include a thorough explanation of his theory, and its application in the problems of individuality, democracy, religion, authoritarianism, sadism, fascism, and the modern tendency of the "automaton". I read the book three times in a month - it is a work of brilliance.

His existence is an embarrassment to the sociological profession.