Erich Fromm's 1941 study of the psychological conditions that made fascism possible — arguing that modern industrial society has dissolved traditional bonds of community and left individuals with a freedom they experience as isolation and anxiety, which they seek to escape through authoritarian submission.
Provided the psychological theory of totalitarianism's appeal — freedom without rootedness is experienced as unbearable aloneness, and the authoritarian movement offers escape through submission to a leader and community of belonging, making fascism a psychological solution to a real problem of modern freedom.
Discussing
Ask anything about Escape from Freedom — their ideas, influences, contradictions, legacy.
Sign in to start a conversation.