Escapes from Freedom: Political Extremism, Conspiracy Theories, and the Sociology of Emotions

Abstract

Although sociology and psychoanalysis have a troubled history and relationship, Erich Fromm's theory of social character is a good entry point for reconciling and reviving dialogue between the two traditions. Ironically Fromm—who can be characterized as a 'forgotten intellectual'— had a conflicted relationship with empirical sociology, the Freudian tradition and the Frankfurt School within which his theory of character was forged. To many sociologists, he was perceived as a second-rate thinker within two discredited traditions, Marxism and psychoanalysis. And Fromm was also discredited among some psychoanalytic theorists, particularly those holding to mid-twentieth century 'drive' orthodoxies as well as language-oriented Lacanians who thought his work undermined core Freudian insights into the unconscious and human emotions. Yet, against this conventional wisdom, I argue for renewed sociological engagement with Fromm's psychoanalytic and social insights. For Fromm was once a significant figure in the sociological canon, and mid-twentieth century sociologists like Robert Merton, C. Wright Mills, and Talcott Parson drew appreciatively from his ideas. Moreover, even though his theories fell between the disciplinary cracks of sociology and social psychology, Fromm's work remains paradoxically relevant, and promises a way forward for contemporary sociologists interested both in emotions and in psychoanalytic insights. It provides a more direct path connecting psychoanalysis and contemporary empirical sociology than available in the critical theory of Adorno, Marcuse, or Lacanian-influenced theories used in the humanities or social sciences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)