ERICH FROMM:

A SOCIOLOGICAL Imran Mahmood

THEORY OF Imran.Mahmood@ucp.edu.pk

PERSONALITY
 ERICH FROMM
• Erich Fromm was a Neo-Freudian psychoanalyst.
• He suggested a theory of personality based on two primary needs:
1. the need for freedom and
2. the need for belonging.
• He suggested that people develop certain personality styles or strategies to deal with the
anxiety created by feelings of isolation.
• Erich Fromm proposed a theory of personality that emphasized fundamental human needs as
well as the vital role that social and cultural factors have in shaping personality.
 BASIC ASSUMPTIONS OF FROMM'S
PERSONALITY THEORY
• Fromm believed that character is something that stems both from our genetic inheritance and
from our learning experiences.
• Some aspects of our character are hereditary. Other aspects stem from what we learn at
home, in school, and from society.
• There is the interplay between the these influences.
FROMM'S FOUR UNPRODUCTIVE
CHARACTER ORIENTATIONS
• Fromm believed that character is something deeply
ingrained and difficult to change.
• The different traits that emerge from each of the five
character types have both positive and negative aspects.
• Fromm generally viewed the first four orientations as
unproductive.
• Fromm also believed that people could exhibit the
characteristics of more than one type and that
personalities can be made up of a combination of
different orientations.
 THE RECEPTIVE CHARACTER
TYPE
• The receptive type is characterized by a need for constant support. They tend to be passive,
needy, and totally dependent upon others.
• While they require ongoing support from family, friends, and others, they do not reciprocate
it.
• Receptive types also tend to lack confidence in their abilities and have difficulty making
their own decisions.
• Fromm suggested that this character type is more likely to emerge when people grow up in
overbearing and controlling households
 THE EXPLOITATIVE CHARACTER
TYPE
• The exploitative type is willing to lie, cheat, and manipulate others in order to get what they
need.
• In order to fulfill their need to belong, they might seek out people who have low self-esteem
or lie about loving someone they really don't care about.
• According to Fromm, people with this character type take what they need either through
force or deception and exploit other people to meet their own selfish needs.
 THE HOARDING CHARACTER
TYPE
• The hoarding type copes with insecurity by never parting with anything.
• They often collect a massive amount of possessions and often seem to care more about their
material possessions than they do about people.
• They have an unhealthy attachment to material items and feel more secure when surrounded
by their many possessions.
• Despite accumulating large quantities of material goods, they never feel satisfied, and it
always seems like something is lacking.
 THE MARKETING CHARACTER
TYPE
• The marketing type looks at relationships in terms of what they can gain from the exchange.
• They might focus on marrying someone for money or social status and tend to have shallow
and anxious personalities.
• Fromm believed that people with this character type tend to be opportunistic and change
their beliefs and values depending on what they think will get them ahead.
• He also suggested that this behavior harms human freedom since people with this type seek
to achieve power, wealth, and social status by using others to achieve those aims.
 THE PRODUCTIVE CHARACTER
TYPE
• The productive type is a person who takes their negative feelings and channels the energy
into productive work.
• They focus on building loving, nurturing, and meaningful relationships with other people.
• This applies not only to romantic relationships, but also to other familial relationships,
friendships, and social relationships.
• People with a productive character type are often described as good spouses, parents,
friends, co-workers, and employees.
Out of the five character types described by fromm, the ​productive type is the only
healthy approach to dealing with the anxiety that emerges from the conflict between
the need for freedom and belonging.
 FROMM'S THEORY OF
FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN NEEDS
Fromm also suggested that people possess five key fundamental needs:
Relatedness:
• The first human need for relatedness refers to a desire for human connections and
meaningful relationships.
• It is directly related to the productive orientation, which is characterized by the ability to
form healthy relationships with other people and to give and receive empathy.
• Lack of relatedness, Fromm suggested, was a central problem that had a significant impact
on mental health.
 FROMM'S THEORY OF
FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN NEEDS
Transcendence:
• This need refers to the desire to connect to things that are greater than ourselves.
• It can involve a sense of purpose, or it can focus on things such as nature, art, or religion.
• People who have a productive orientation are more likely to pursue activities that provide
them with this sense of transcending and making connections with the world outside of
themselves
 FROMM'S THEORY OF
FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN NEEDS
Rootedness:
• People have a need to feel that they belong. Seeking rootedness can help people form
connections and create a sense of safety and security.
• An unhealthy need for rootedness can lead to over-dependence and inflexibility.
• People who have the receptive orientation, for example, may have a stronger need for
rootedness as they seek a sense of stability in their lives.
 FROMM'S THEORY OF
FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN NEEDS
Identity:
• Fromm believed that people also have a need to develop a sense of self.
• This can create a solid sense of identity that allows people to have healthy self-esteem and
confidence, but it can also lead to problems.
• People with a marketing orientation, for example, may feel compelled to define themselves
through their possessions. They may be heavily influenced by societal pressures and
consumer culture.
 FROMM'S THEORY OF
FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN NEEDS
Freedom:
• The need for independence and autonomy is a key aspect of Fromm's theory of personality.
• This need can conflict with the need to belong, creating a sense of anxiety that may fuel
unproductive behavior.
• The hoarding character orientation, for example, seeks to find freedom by accumulating
material possessions, which the individual things will provide stability and a sense of control
over the environment.
• The character orientations fromm described result from people's efforts to fulfill and adapt
to these needs.
The productive type is the healthiest, and strikes a harmonious balance. The other
orientations represent less healthy ways of coping with such needs.
In each case, people overemphasize one needs while neglecting others.
 BURDEN OF FREEDOM
People Attempt to Escape from Freedom in a Variety of Ways
Mechanisms Of Escape
1. Authoritarianism
• The tendency to give up the freedom of one’s own individual self and to fuse with one’s self
with someone or something outside oneself in order to acquire the strength which the
individual is lacking.
• Can take two forms:
Masochism (join oneself to something more powerful)
- Feelings of inferiority and inadequacy
- Complaint to others
 BURDEN OF FREEDOM
Sadism
- Strive for power over others
- Gain power over the weak by making them dependent on me
- Exploiting others for my benefit or pleasure
- Making others suffer physically or psychologically
 BURDEN OF FREEDOM
2. Destructiveness (Malignant Aggression)
Does not depend on a continuous relationship with another but seeks to eliminate people or
things from our lives (If it/they do not exist, I can’t be hurt).
Nastiness of life attributed to this – If block will be turned on self (If I do not exist, I can not
be hurt).
 BURDEN OF FREEDOM
3. Automation Conformity
We give up our individuality to become what other people desire us to be.
Temporarily find security but at the price of self. (The more we conform, the more powerless
we feel. The more powerless we feel, the more must conform).
Most socially significant.
Positive Freedom
• Solution to the human dilemma
• Spontaneous and full expression of both rational and emotional potentialities
• Achieved when a person becomes reunified with others and with the world
 BURDEN OF FREEDOM
• Fromm outlines two kind of unproductive families:
1. Symbiotic Families
Symbiosis is the relationship two organisms have who cannot live without each other. In a
symbiotic family, some members of the family are ‘swallowed up’ by other members, so that
they do not fully develop the personalities of their own.
2. Withdrawing Families
Parents sometimes use withdrawal of affection as punishment. Children in these cultures
become rather strongly driven to succeed in whatever their culture defines as a success.
• Fromm suggests it is a family where parents take the responsibility to teach their children
reason in on atmosphere of love. Growing up in this sort of family, children learns to
acknowledge their freedom and to take responsibility for themselves, and ultimately for
society as a whole. (Withdrawing families)
ANY QUESTIONS??