The founder
of this approach is Erich Fromm.
In this
post, we will not go into detail, and too deep to characterize the structure of
personality. We must start with the fact that the personality Fromm considered
for the entire period of human existence. He singled out one thing in common,
typical of the entire history up to the end of the twentieth century. Namely -
authoritarian control by the ruling forces and the human desire to get out from
under him, to find freedom.
According
to Erich Fromm, the world is now experiencing a deep crisis. Democracy has
given man freedom that was previously impossible to gain. Opening too wide
range of new features shock people who are not accustomed to the selection.
Freedom, caused new requirements, such as a sense of security and a sense of
belonging to society. And just - cause new conflicts and problems. Methods
solutions, these problems are divided into two groups.
Mechanisms of escape
How do
people overcome feelings of loneliness and alienation own insignificance,
concomitant freedom? One way - to give up freedom and to suppress their
individuality. Fromm described several strategies used by people to
"escape from freedom". The first of them - authoritarianism, defined
as "the tendency to connect himself with someone or something external to
gain strength, I lost the individual" (Fromm, 1941/1956, p. 163).
Authoritarianism manifested in masochistic and sadistic tendencies. When
masochistic form of authoritarianism people show in the relationship with the
surrounding excessive dependence, subordination and helplessness. Sadistic
form, on the contrary, expressed in service of others, domination and control.
From argued that the same individual is usually present both trends. For
example, in the military structure high authoritarian person can voluntarily
obey the orders of senior officers and brutally exploit or humiliate
subordinates. The second way to escape - destructiveness. Following this trend,
people trying to overcome a sense of inferiority, destroying or conquering others.
According to Fromm, duty, patriotism and love - commonly occurring examples
rationalizing destructive actions.
Finally,
people can get rid of loneliness and alienation through absolute obedience to
social norms governing behavior. "An individual ceases to be itself; it
turns into a type of person requires a model of culture, and therefore becomes
absolutely like the others - the way they want it to be" (Fromm,
1941/1956, p. 208). This quote fully describes the behavior of conformists,
people who blindly copy authoritative opinion or the opinion of the majority.
According
to Fromm, in contrast to three of these mechanisms of escape from freedom,
there is also positive experience of freedom, through which you can get rid of
feelings of loneliness and alienation. This - in the next post.
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