Erich Fromm: biography, family, main ideas and books of the philosopher. Philosophical and social ideas of Erich Fromm

- (1900 1980) philosopher, sociologist, psychologist Selfishness is a symptom of a lack of self-love. He who does not love himself is always worried about himself. Social progress requires the standardization of people, and this standardization is called equality. The main task in life... ... Consolidated encyclopedia of aphorisms

Erich (1900 1980) German. Amer. social philosopher, philosopher anthropologist and cultural scientist, one of the reformers of psychoanalysis. In 1922 he received his doctorate. philosophy in Heidelberg. un te. In 1929, 32 employees of the Institute of Social Research in... ... Encyclopedia of Cultural Studies

- (Fromm) (1900 1980), German-American philosopher, psychologist and sociologist, the main representative of neo-Freudianism. Since 1933 in exile in the USA. Based on the ideas of psychoanalysis, existentialism and Marxism, he saw ways out of the crisis of modern... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

- (Finnish Erich, German Ehrig) surname. Known bearers: Erich, Janine Bruneian diplomat. Erich, Raphael (1879 1946) Finnish politician and diplomat. Erich, Harald (b. 1949) German luger. Erich (German: Erich) name. Famous... ... Wikipedia

Fromm (German: Fromm) is a German surname. Erich Fromm social psychologist, philosopher; Friedrich Fromm German officer ... Wikipedia

Wikipedia has articles about other people with this surname, see Fromm. Erich Fromm Erich Fromm ... Wikipedia

"Fromm" redirects here. See also other meanings. Erich Fromm, 1900 1980 Erich Fromm (German: Erich Fromm; March 23, 1900, Frankfurt am Main, March 18, 1980, Locarno) German social psychologist, philosopher, psychoanalyst, representative ... ... Wikipedia

FROM Erich- (1900–1980) - German-American psychoanalyst, psychologist and philosopher, who critically rethought the psychoanalytic teaching of S. Freud about man and culture, criticized the conformist tendency in the psychoanalytic movement of the second half... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary of Psychology and Pedagogy

Books

• The Art of Loving, Erich Fromm. Erich Fromm is an outstanding sociologist, psychologist and philosopher of the 20th century, perhaps more than anyone who fully and comprehensively reflected in his texts the intellectual life of the century, peaks and tragedy...
• You will be like gods, Erich Fromm. Erich Fromm unconditionally broke with Judaism at the age of 26 and from then on considered himself a Christian. However, the Christianity of the great philosopher, his understanding of God and the divine, the role of Christ in the world...

Years of life: 1900 - 1980

Homeland: Frankfurt am Main (Germany)

Erich Fromm - World-famous psychoanalyst, psychologist and philosopher, who critically rethought Freud's psychoanalytic teaching about man and culture, criticized the conformist tendency in the psychoanalytic movement of the second half of the 20th century and advocated for the creative revival of psychoanalysis - for the development of what he called humanistic psychoanalysis .

Erich Fromm was born on March 23, 1900 in Frankfurt am Main (Germany). He was the only child in an Orthodox Jewish family. His great-grandfather was a scholar of the sacred books and a scholar of the Talmud, his father was the son of a rabbi, and his mother was the niece of the famous Talmudist L. Krause, under whose influence he wanted to become a Talmudist. E. Fromm's mother dreamed of him becoming a famous pianist, and before the outbreak of the First World War the boy studied music.

At the age of 12, E. Fromm was shocked by the suicide of a young artist who took her own life shortly after the death of her father and in her will asked that her last wish be fulfilled - to bury her next to her father. Young E. Fromm could not understand how this could happen when love was young beautiful woman her love for her father turned out to be so strong that she chose death over the joys of life and painting. Only later, having become acquainted with Freud’s ideas about the Oedipus complex, did he come to understand the reasons for the suicide of a young artist that shocked him in childhood.

Subsequent events associated with the First World War also made young E. Fromm think about how and why people succumb to hatred and national self-deification, what are the causes of wars and how is it possible that people begin to kill each other. Later, recalling his youthful experiences, he wrote: “I was tormented by questions about the phenomena of individual and social life, and I longed to get answers to them.”

IN school years E. Fromm studied Latin, English and French languages, was interested in the texts Old Testament. After receiving his Abitur in 1918, he studied law in Frankfurt and philosophy, sociology and psychology in Heidelberg. In 1922 he graduated from Heidelberg University, received a doctorate in sociology, and under the guidance of the German sociologist A. Weber prepared a dissertation “On the Jewish Law. Toward the sociology of the Jewish Diaspora." In 1926 E. Fromm completed his postgraduate studies at the University of Munich. In 1924 he met F. Reichmann, who completed a course of psychoanalytic training with G. Sachs, practiced psychoanalysis, became his first analyst, and two years later - his wife. Subsequently, he was analyzed by three psychoanalysts, including W. Wittenberg and G. Sachs. Like F. Reichmann, he moved away from Jewish orthodoxy, and later broke with Zionism, which cultivated nationalism.

The marriage with F. Reichmann, who was 10 years older than E. Fromm, turned out to be short-lived. After living together for more than three years, they separated, but maintained friendly relations. Subsequently, F. Fromm-Reichmann gained worldwide fame as a psychoanalyst who achieved significant results in working with patients suffering from mental disorders, including schizophrenia. In 1927-1928 E. Fromm established contacts with the Berlin Institute of Psychoanalysis, where he made such reports as “Treatment of a case of pulmonary tuberculosis using psychoanalysis” (1927) and “Psychoanalysis of the petty bourgeois” (1928). The last report caused a lively discussion, in which famous psychoanalysts of the time participated, including F. Alexander, Z. Bernfeld, S. Rado, G. Sachs, M. Eitingon.

In 1929-1930 E. Fromm completed a course of study at the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute and opened his office for private psychoanalytic practice.

In early 1929, at the opening ceremony of the Frankfurt Psychoanalytic Institute, he gave a lecture on the application of psychoanalysis in sociology and the science of religion. In 1930, E. Fromm was elected as a freelance member of the German Psychoanalytic Society. In the late 20s - early 30s. he met the famous psychoanalysts K. Horney and W. Reich, and also participated in the discussion of their reports in the psychoanalytic community. Under the influence of T. Raik, in 1930 he published a discussion article “The Development of the Dogma of Christ. Psychoanalytic study of the socio-psychological function of religion” and a report “On the question of belief in the omnipotence of thoughts” was made. In 1931, he fell ill with pulmonary tuberculosis and was treated in Davos by G. Groddeck, who at different times treated many famous psychoanalysts, including G. Sachs, W. Reich, K. Horney, S. Ferenczi, and who said E. Fromm that his illness is the result of his reluctance to admit his unsuccessful marriage with F. Fromm-Reichmann.

In 1929 E. Fromm worked at the Frankfurt Psychoanalytic Institute, which received shelter at the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt am Main, headed by M. Horkheimer, who took a course of psychoanalysis with K. Landauer. Between 1930 and 1933 he worked at the Institute of Social Research, where he headed the department social psychology and conducted empirical research, on the basis of which it was concluded that workers and employees in Germany would not resist the rise of Nazism to power. It was during this period that he became acquainted with the ideas of K. Marx and J. Bakhoven, who published works on the theory of maternal law. In 1932, his article “Psychoanalytic characterology and its significance for social psychology” was published, which contained ideas about social character.

In 1933 At the invitation of F. Alexander, E. Fromm came to the USA to give lectures at the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute, where K. Horney had settled by that time. A year later he moved to New York, where for several years he worked at the Institute for Social Research, which until 1934. functioned in Geneva and then joined Columbia University. Within the framework of the institute, he prepared a socio-psychological section, which included ideas about the authoritarian character. This section was included in the collection “Studies on Authority and the Family” published by M. Horkheimer (1936), which predetermined the subsequent study of this issue, which was reflected, in particular, in the widely known work of T. Adorno “Authoritarian Character” (1950). In the 30s E. Fromm taught at New York, Columbia and Yale universities, and also collaborated with G. S. Sullivan, K. Horney, F. Fromm-Reichmann and K. Thompson, who, having undergone analysis from S. Ferenczi, subsequently continued it from E. Fromm. Founded in 1938 G. S. Sullivan magazine "Psychiatry" he first published his articles on English language.

Due to ideological differences with colleagues (in particular, T. Adorno and M. Horkheimer), who did not share his critical attitude towards some of the concepts of Z. Freud, in 1938 he refused to cooperate with the Institute for Social Research. In 1941-1943. E. Fromm taught at the American Institute of Psychoanalysis, created by a number of psychoanalysts who left the New York Psychoanalytic Society due to the disqualification of K. Horney as a training analyst (in fact, for her criticism of classical psychoanalysis). In 1943, the commission of this Institute did not satisfy the students’ demand to grant E. Fromm, who did not have a medical education, the right to conduct a clinical and technical seminar, and in response to his disagreement with such a decision, deprived him of his teaching privileges.

The conflict was predetermined not only by the position of American colleagues who shared the official point of view, according to which psychoanalysts should have a medical education, but also by the deterioration of relations with K. Horney, one of whose daughters was analyzed by E. Fromm, as a result of which her protest against mother. Some psychoanalysts, including G. S. Sullivan and K. Thompson, left the American Institute of Psychoanalysis with E. Fromm and, teaming up with colleagues from the Washington-Baltimore Psychoanalytic Society, created a branch of the Washington School of Psychiatry, founded by G. S. Sullivan in 1936 G.

Over the years, starting in 1946, when the branch of the Washington School of Psychiatry was renamed the New York Institute of Psychology, Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis. W. White, E. Fromm took an active part in the work of this institute and the training of specialists in the field of psychoanalysis. Before moving to Mexico City, he supervised the academic department and teaching staff, and after his departure from the United States, he periodically came to New York to give lectures and conduct seminars at the institute.

From 1949 to 1967 E. Fromm lived and worked in Mexico, where he had to move on the advice of doctors who recommended that his second sick wife, whom he married in 1940, change the climate and try treatment with radioactive sources in San Jose Purna. In 1951 He became a visiting professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the National University in Mexico City. As a training and supervising analyst, he trained a group of Mexican psychoanalysts.

In 1953, after the death of his second wife, E. Fromm married again and moved to the suburbs of Mexico City. In 1956, on his initiative, the Mexican Psychoanalytic Society was founded. In order to disseminate psychoanalytic knowledge in the Spanish-speaking region, E. Fromm organized the publication of the Psychological Library series, founded the Journal of Psychoanalysis, Psychiatry and Psychology, and also organized a series of lectures in which prominent scientists took part. In 1957, on his initiative, a seminar on psychoanalysis and Zen Buddhism was held, in which, along with the then famous representative of Zen Buddhism D. Suzuki, about 40 psychoanalysts and psychiatrists took part.

For several years, E. Fromm trained psychoanalysts at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Mexico City, and since 1963 at the Mexican Institute of Psychoanalysis. In 1957, together with M. Maccoby and other collaborators, he began to explore the character of a Mexican village. The results of this field research are reflected in the publication “Psychoanalytic characterology in theory and practice. Social Character of the Mexican Village" (1970).

Not being a member of the International Psychoanalytic Association, E. Fromm initiated the creation of the International Forum of Psychoanalysis, which allowed like-minded people to exchange opinions on current issues in the theory and practice of psychoanalysis. This forum was held in Amsterdam (1962), Zurich (1965), Mexico City (1969), New York (1972), Zurich (1974), Berlin (1977). In the 60s E. Fromm took an active part in political events in the United States and the world as a whole. He became a member of the US Socialist Party, prepared new program, but after it was not accepted by the leadership of this party, he left it.

E. Fromm became involved in the political movement in defense of peace, and in 1962 he took part as an observer in the disarmament conference held in Moscow. He was a member of the national committee of the American Civil Liberties Union, supported the campaign for nuclear disarmament, collaborated with the Washington Peace Research Institute, and took an active part in the 1968 election campaign for the nomination of Democratic Senator Yu. McCarthy. From 1960 to 1973 E. Fromm spent the summer months in Locarno (Switzerland). In 1974 he decided not to return to Mexico, and in 1976 he finally moved to Switzerland.

Having suffered three heart attacks, in old age E. Fromm continued to meditate daily, following the teachings of a Buddhist monk from Sri Lanka. He died on March 18, 1980 in Muralto, of which he became an honorary citizen shortly before his death. In Frankfurt, where he was born, a posthumous honor took place, accompanied by the awarding of the Goethe Memorial Medal.
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http://psy-vis.ru

Fromm E., 1900-1980). Philosopher and sociologist, author of the concept of humanistic psychoanalysis.

F. received a philosophical education at the Universities of Heidelberg and Munich in Germany, specializing in social psychology. He graduated from the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute and since 1925 worked as a practicing psychoanalyst. In 1925-1932 - employee of the Institute of Social Research named after. W. Goethe in Frankfurt am Main. He was strongly influenced by the Frankfurt school with its left-radical social and philosophical orientation. F. sought to synthesize Marxist ideas with psychoanalysis and existentialism, showed interest in religious issues, and in 1930 he published the article “Christian Dogma,” in which he tried to combine Marxist sociology with psychoanalysis. In 1933, after the Nazis came to power, he emigrated to the United States and taught at Columbia, New York and Michigan universities. Since 1951 he lived in Mexico; died in Muralto (Switzerland).

F. viewed man as a social being, analyzed the influence on the human psyche of sociocultural factors dominant in society, and acted as a critic of capitalist society. In 1941, F.’s book “Escape from Freedom” was published, in which he outlined the main provisions of his social philosophy, analyzing the existence of man within the framework of Western civilization. These ideas were further developed in the works “Man for Himself” (1947), “Healthy Society” (1955), “ Modern man and its future: a socio-psychological study" (1960), "The Art of Love" (1962), "Marx's Picture of Man: From the Most Important Part of the Early Letters of Karl Marx" (1963), "The Heart of Man" (1964), "The Revolution of Hope " (1968), etc. In his latest works - "Anatomy of Human Destructiveness" (1973) and "To Have or to Be?" (1976) - F.'s social philosophy and concept of humanistic psychoanalysis acquired their final form. He proposed a theory of social reformation based on psychoanalysis and the achievements of socialism, F. assessed human actions and mass socio-political movements as “mechanisms of escape from reality, which are driving forces normal human behavior." Unconscious "escape mechanisms" located in the deeper layers of the personality include masochistic and sadistic aspirations, withdrawal from the world, destruction and automatic submission.

F., did not distinguish between a patient with neurosis and a healthy person: “The phenomena that we observe in patients with neuroses do not, in principle, differ from those in healthy people.”

Since the 50s In F.'s work, a second theme arose - humanistic religion. Its main provisions are set out in the work “Psychoanalysis and Religion” (1950), and were further developed in the books “Zen Buddhism and Psychoanalysis” (1960) and “You Will Be Like Gods: A Radical Interpretation of the Old Testament and Its Traditions” (1966).

FROM Erich

1900–1980) - German-American psychoanalyst, psychologist and philosopher, who critically rethought the psychoanalytic teaching of S. Freud about man and culture, criticized the conformist tendency in the psychoanalytic movement of the second half of the twentieth century and advocated for the creative revival of psychoanalysis - for the development of what he called humanistic psychoanalysis.

Erich Fromm was born on March 23, 1900 in Frankfurt am Main (Germany). He was the only child in an Orthodox Jewish family. His great-grandfather was a scholar of the sacred books and a Talmud researcher, his father was the son of a rabbi, and his mother was the niece of the famous Talmudist L. Krause, under whose influence he wanted to become a Talmudist. His mother dreamed of him becoming a famous pianist, and before the outbreak of the First World War the boy studied music.

At the age of twelve, the boy was shocked by the suicide of a young artist who took her own life shortly after the death of her father and in her will asked that her last will be carried out so that she would be buried next to her father. Young E. Fromm could not understand how this could happen when the love of a young beautiful woman for her father turned out to be so strong that she preferred death and being in a coffin next to him to the joys of life and painting. Only later, having become acquainted with S. Freud’s ideas about the Oedipus complex, did he come to understand the reasons for the suicide of a young artist that shocked him in childhood.

Subsequent events associated with the First World War also made young E. Fromm think about how and why people succumb to hatred and national self-deification, what are the causes of wars and how is it possible that people begin to kill each other. Later, recalling his youthful experiences, he wrote: “I was tormented by questions about the phenomena of individual and social life, and I longed to get answers to them.”

During his school years, E. Fromm studied Latin, English and French, and was interested in the texts of the Old Testament. After graduating in 1918, he studied law in Frankfurt and philosophy, sociology and psychology in Heidelberg. In 1922, he graduated from the University of Heidelberg, received a doctorate in sociology, and, under the guidance of the German sociologist A. Weber, prepared a dissertation “On the Jewish Law. Toward the sociology of the Jewish Diaspora." In 1926, E. Fromm completed his postgraduate studies at the University of Munich.

In 1924, he met F. Reichmann, who had undergone psychoanalytic training with G. Sachs, practiced psychoanalysis, became his first analyst, and two years later, his wife. Subsequently, he was analyzed by three psychoanalysts, including W. Wittenberg and G. Sachs. Like F. Reichmann, he moved away from Jewish orthodoxy, and later broke with Zionism, which cultivated nationalism. The marriage with F. Reichmann, who was ten years older than E. Fromm, turned out to be short-lived. After more than three years of marriage, they separated, but maintained friendly relations both until the official divorce in 1940, and over the following years, when F. Fromm-Reichmann gained worldwide fame as a psychoanalyst who achieved significant results when working with patients suffering from mental disorders , including schizophrenia.

In 1927–1928, E. Fromm established contacts with the Berlin Institute of Psychoanalysis, where he made such reports as “Treatment of a case of pulmonary tuberculosis using psychoanalysis” (1927) and “Psychoanalysis of the petty bourgeois” (1928). The last report caused a lively discussion, in which famous psychoanalysts of the time participated, including F. Alexander, Z. Bernfeld, S. Rado, G. Sachs, M. Eitingon. In 1929–1930, E. Fromm completed a course of study at the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute and opened his office for private psychoanalytic practice. In early 1929, at the inauguration of the Frankfurt Psychoanalytic Institute, he gave a lecture on the application of psychoanalysis in sociology and the science of religion. In 1930, E. Fromm was elected as a freelance member of the German Psychoanalytic Society.

In the late 20s and early 30s, he met psychoanalysts such as K. Horney and W. Reich, and also participated in discussions of their reports in the psychoanalytic community. Under the influence of T. Raik, in 1930 he published a discussion article “The Development of the Dogma of Christ. Psychoanalytic study of the socio-psychological function of religion” and a report “On the question of belief in the omnipotence of thoughts” was made. In 1931, he fell ill with pulmonary tuberculosis and was treated in Davos by G. Groddeck, who at different times treated such psychoanalysts as G. Sachs, W. Reich, K. Horney, S. Ferenczi and who told E. Fromm about that his illness was the result of a reluctance to admit to an unsuccessful marriage with F. Fromm-Reichmann.

In 1929, E. Fromm worked at the Frankfurt Psychoanalytic Institute, which received shelter at the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt am Main, headed by M. Horkheimer, who took a course of psychoanalysis with K. Landauer. From 1930 to 1933, he worked at the Institute for Social Research, where he headed the department of social psychology and conducted empirical research, based on which it was concluded that workers and employees in Germany would not resist the rise of Nazism to power. It was during this period that he became acquainted with the ideas of K. Marx and J. Bakhoven, who published works on the theory of maternal law. In 1932, his article “Psychoanalytic characterology and its significance for social psychology” was published, which contained ideas about social character.

In 1933, at the invitation of F. Alexander, E. Fromm came to the USA to lecture at the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute, where K. Horney had settled by that time. A year later he moved to New York, where he worked for several years at the Institute for Social Research, which operated in Geneva until 1934, and then joined Columbia University. Within the framework of the institute, he prepared a socio-psychological section, which included ideas about the authoritarian character. This section was included in the collection “Studies on Authority and the Family” published by M. Horkheimer (1936), which predetermined the subsequent study of this issue, which was reflected, in particular, in the widely known work of T. Adorno “Authoritarian Character” (1950).

In the 30s, E. Fromm taught at New York, Columbia and Yale universities, and also collaborated with G.S. Sullivan, K. Horney, F. Fromm-Reichmann and K. Thompson, who, having been analyzed by S. Ferenczi, subsequently continued it with E. Fromm. Founded in 1938 by G.S. Sullivan's journal "Psychiatry" for the first time published his articles in English. Due to ideological differences with colleagues (in particular, T. Adorno and M. Horkheimer), who did not share his critical attitude towards some of Freud's concepts, in 1938 he refused to cooperate with the Institute for Social Research.

In 1941–1943, E. Fromm taught at the American Institute of Psychoanalysis, created by a number of psychoanalysts who left the New York Psychoanalytic Society due to the disqualification of K. Horney as a training analyst (in fact, for her criticism of classical psychoanalysis). In 1943, the commission of this institute did not satisfy the students’ demand to grant E. Fromm, who did not have a medical education, the right to conduct a clinical and technical seminar and, in response to his disagreement with such a decision, deprived him of his teaching privileges. The conflict was predetermined not only by the position of American colleagues who shared the official point of view, according to which psychoanalysts should have a medical education, but also by the deterioration of relations with K. Horney, one of whose daughters was analyzed by E. Fromm, as a result of which her protest against mother.

Some psychoanalysts, including G.S. Sullivan and K. Thompson, left with E. Fromm from the American Institute of Psychoanalysis and, teaming up with colleagues from the Washington-Baltimore Psychoanalytic Society, created a branch of the Washington School of Psychiatry, founded by G.S. Sullivan in 1936. Over the years, starting in 1946, when a branch of the Washington School of Psychiatry was renamed the New York Institute of Psychology, Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis. W. White, E. Fromm took an active part in the work of this Institute and the training of specialists in the field of psychoanalysis. Before moving to Mexico City, he supervised the academic department and teaching staff, and after his departure from the United States, he periodically came to New York to give lectures and conduct seminars at the institute.

From 1949 to 1967, E. Fromm lived and worked in Mexico, where he had to move on the advice of doctors who recommended that his second sick wife, whom he married in 1940, change the climate and try treatment with radioactive sources in San Jose Purna. In 1951 he became a visiting professor at the Faculty of Medicine at the National University of Mexico City. As a training and supervising analyst, he trained a group of Mexican psychoanalysts. In 1953, after the death of his second wife, E. Fromm married again and moved to the suburbs of Mexico City.

In 1956, on his initiative, the Mexican Psychoanalytic Society was founded. In order to disseminate psychoanalytic knowledge in the Spanish-speaking region, E. Fromm organized the publication of the “Psychological Library” series, founded the “Journal of Psychoanalysis, Psychiatry and Psychology,” and also organized a series of lectures in which prominent scientists took part. In 1957, on his initiative, a seminar on psychoanalysis and Zen Buddhism was held, in which, along with the then famous representative of Zen Buddhism D. Suzuki, about forty psychoanalysts and psychiatrists took part. For several years, E. Fromm trained psychoanalysts at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Mexico City, and since 1963 at the Mexican Institute of Psychoanalysis. In 1957, together with M. Maccoby and other collaborators, he began to explore the character of a Mexican village. The results of this field research are reflected in the publication “Psychoanalytic characterology in theory and practice. Social Character of the Mexican Village" (1970).

Not being a member of the International Psychoanalytic Association, E. Fromm initiated the creation of the International Forum of Psychoanalysis, which allowed like-minded people to exchange opinions on current issues in the theory and practice of psychoanalysis. This forum was held in Amsterdam (1962), Zurich (1965), Mexico City (1969), New York (1972), Zurich (1974), Berlin (1977).

In the 1960s, E. Fromm took an active part in political events in the United States and the world as a whole. He became a member of the Socialist Party of the USA, prepared a new program, but after it was not accepted by the leadership of this party, he left it. E. Fromm became involved in the political movement in defense of peace, and in 1962 he took part as an observer in the disarmament conference held in Moscow. He was a member of the national committee of the American Civil Liberties Union, supported the campaign for nuclear disarmament, collaborated with the Washington Peace Research Institute, and took an active part in the 1968 election campaign for the nomination of Democratic Senator Yu. McCarthy as a candidate for US President. .

From 1960 to 1973, E. Fromm spent his summer time in Locarno (Switzerland). In 1974, he decided not to return to Mexico, and in 1976 he finally moved to Switzerland. Having suffered three heart attacks, in old age E. Fromm continued to engage in daily meditation exercises, following the teachings of one of the Buddhist monks from Sri Lanka. He died on March 18, 1980 in Muralto, of which he became an honorary citizen shortly before his death. In Frankfurt, where he was born, a posthumous honor took place, accompanied by the awarding of the Goethe Memorial Medal.

E. Fromm is the author of numerous articles and books. His first fundamental work was “Escape from Freedom” (1941), which brought him fame, was repeatedly republished in various countries around the world and contained basic ideas, the creative development of which was reflected in his subsequent publications. Some of his most significant works include “Man for Himself” (1947), “Psychoanalysis and Religion” (1950), “The Forgotten Language” (1951), “A Healthy Society” (1955), “The Art of Loving” (1956). ), “Zen Buddhism and Psychoanalysis” (1960, co-authored with D. Suzuki), “Marx’s Concept of Man” (1961), “Beyond the Chains of Illusion” (1962), “The Soul of Man” (1964), “You Will like gods. A Radical Interpretation of the Old Testament and Its Traditions" (1966), "Revolution of Hope" (1968), "The Mission of Sigmund Freud" (1969), "The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness" (1973), "To Have or to Be" (1976), "The Psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud - greatness and boundaries" (1979) and others.

(1900–1980)

Erich Fromm is an outstanding thinker of the 20th century, who largely determined the public mood of his era. There are few psychologists whose ideas would enjoy such wide popularity throughout the world (even during Fromm’s lifetime, his main works went through dozens of reprints in millions of copies). At the same time, many practical psychologists, who are keen on diagnostic and training manipulations, know almost nothing about Fromm, since he never did either one or the other. His works are mainly devoted to philosophical, ethical, socio-psychological questions of human nature, his place in the world, the meaning of his existence. But these, in fact, are the core questions around which all applied psychological research and development branch. Therefore, let us turn with attention and respect to the history of the formation of his ideas.

Erich Fromm was born on March 23, 1900 in Frankfurt am Main into a Jewish family. His mother, Rosa Fromm, née Krause, was the daughter of a rabbi who emigrated from Russia, and her uncle, Dayan Ludwig Krause, was known as one of the most authoritative Talmudists in Poznan. Under the influence of this great-uncle, who regularly sent the boy instructions on reading the Talmud, young Erich intended to devote his life to the study and preaching of Judaism. The whole way of family life contributed to this. Erich's father, Naftali Fromm, was also the son and grandson of rabbis and, although he devoted himself to trade without much enthusiasm, preserved and supported the orthodox religious traditions in the family. All day long he sat in his modest shop over the sacred books, each time complaining that customers were distracting him from such a pious occupation. It is not difficult to guess that with this approach to commerce, the family’s financial affairs went from bad to worse.

The Jewish environment from which Fromm came and with which he maintained contact until the end of his days had nothing in common with the world of pragmatic and self-interested businessmen. Fromm himself called his world pre-capitalist, and sometimes simply medieval, emphasizing that the atmosphere in which he was raised was completely alien to the bourgeois spirit of the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. Fromm recalled: “I was perplexed when anyone in my presence admitted that he was a businessman, that is, he spent his life making money. I felt very ashamed of him.” After all, according to the Judaic tradition, the ultimate goal of any work, any activity is self-improvement, and the surest means for this is economic independence; therefore, property can serve not as a goal, but only as a means of achieving freedom for the sake of satisfying spiritual needs. In fact, this ideology was embodied in Fromm’s philosophical concept, although no longer in close connection with the Judaic tradition, from which Fromm gradually moved away as his interests expanded.

It is characteristic that in Holy Scripture Fromm was attracted and inspired by very specific moments - the story of the fall of Adam and Eve, Abraham's intercession for the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, the fate of the prophet Jonah. Probably, even in his youthful studies, the idea arose that Fromm expressed many years later and which was enthusiastically picked up by the generation of young rebels of the sixties: “The history of mankind begins with an act of disobedience, which at the same time is the beginning of its liberation and intellectual development.”

Fromm’s own “fall from sin” occurred in an extremely banal manner. One day, feeling very hungry, he was attracted by the delicious smell emanating from a street stall. Without thinking twice, the young Talmudist bought and ate a hot pork sausage on the go - an unthinkable act for a pious Jew. And the world didn’t turn upside down! Moreover, the young man did not feel like a sinner, did not feel that he had become worse. Perhaps we owe it to that same sausage that the world lost an ordinary rabbi, but gained a wonderful psychologist.

In Frankfurt Fromm visited national school, in which, along with the basics of doctrine and religious traditions, all subjects of the general education cycle were taught. In 1918, he passed his matriculation exams and, after some hesitation, decided not to continue religious education, and studying law. This choice was not something radical, since Fromm understood law as “the crystallized minimum of ethics of any society.” However, the prospect of becoming a lawyer quickly lost its appeal for him, and he went to Heidelberg to study philosophy, sociology and psychology.

The prestige of sociology at Heidelberg University was confirmed by Max Weber, whom Fromm, however, did not have time to meet. He studied sociology with his brother Alfred Weber and, under his guidance, defended his doctoral dissertation in 1922.

An important event in Fromm’s personal life and scientific career was his acquaintance with Frida Reichman, who had previously been an assistant to Kurt Goldstein, then the founder of the school of autogenic training I.H. Schulz, and in 1923 she mastered psychoanalysis at the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute under the leadership of Hans Sachs. In 1924, Frieda Reichmann opened the Therapoiticum boarding house 15 in Heidelberg, on Menhofstrasse, in which she began to practice psychoanalysis.

The acquaintance took place through a third party and at first was of a purely friendly nature. However, pretty soon Frida Reichman managed to interest Fromm in psychoanalysis and offered to act as an analyst for him. And like the stories of Sandor Rado and Wilhelm Reich, who married their patients, the therapeutic relationship between Frida Reichmann and Erich Fromm led to marriage (try not to confuse love with transference after that!). Many were perplexed that neither analytical revelations nor the significant age difference (Frida was 10 years older) prevented the marriage. However, the doubts turned out to be not unfounded. Having lived together for only 4 years, the couple separated (the divorce was filed only in 1940 in the USA, where their paths again coincidentally converged). However, they managed to maintain good relations, and in all subsequent years Frida lived under a double surname - Fromm-Reichman, under which she gained considerable fame.

Fromm completed his psychoanalytic training at the Berlin Institute, which, since the late 20s, increasingly became the center of attraction for analysts and their clients and challenged the primacy of the Vienna Institute. IN different years Sandor Rado, Franz Alexander, Max Eitingon, Hans Sachs, Wilhelm Reich, René Spitz and other prominent analysts practiced and taught here. Here Fromm became closely acquainted with Karen Horney, whose patronage later secured him a professorship in Chicago.

In 1925, Fromm, having completed his mandatory psychoanalytic training (a serious flaw in which, however, was considered to be his lack of medical education), opened his own private practice. Among his patients were many Americans. By practicing spoken English with them, Fromm made great progress, which later allowed him to easily assimilate overseas.

Initially Fromm stood on the position of orthodox Freudianism, his early works published in reputable psychoanalytic journals, including the authoritative “Imago”. He never knew Sigmund Freud personally, but was deeply imbued with the spirit of his teaching. Over time, however, adherence to Freudian doctrine began to weaken, and Fromm eventually emerged as one of the most determined revisionists of psychoanalysis.

Extensive practice and communication with patients gave Fromm rich material for rethinking the relationship between the biological and social principles in the formation of the human psyche. The analysis of empirical material was carried out by him while working at the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt am Main (1929–1932). As the head of the department of social psychology at the institute, Fromm in 1932 organized a study of the unconscious motives of behavior of large social groups and, as a result of analyzing the data obtained, came to the conclusion that the masses not only would not resist the emerging fascism, but would also bring it to power with their own hands. Fromm saw an explanation for this “irrational” phenomenon in the mechanism of “flight from freedom,” when the masses, exhausted by national humiliation, unemployment, and inflation, willingly renounce the privileges given by freedom and readily sacrifice them in exchange for “order” and a guaranteed bowl of gruel. (Is it because this concept has become a psychological classic because life confirms it again and again?)

Fromm was one of the first to leave Germany in 1933, because the results of his research forced him to abandon all illusions. (Those of his colleagues who continued to harbor illusions about a “steady hand” and a “new order” were subsequently forced to flee in panic, while others did not succeed.)

Fromm settled in the USA, where in 1941 the book “Escape from Freedom”, written by him in English, was published, exposing various modifications of totalitarianism. The book brought the author fame in America and aroused hatred towards him in Germany, where he never returned after the end of the war. In America - first in the USA. And then in Mexico - Fromm is engaged in extensive research and pedagogical activity, conducts a large clinical practice, writes and publishes books that bring him increasing fame: “A Man for Himself” (1947), “Fairy Tales, Myths and Dreams” (1951), “A Healthy Society” (1955), “The Art of Love” ( 1956), “Revolution of Hope” (1968), “To Have or to Be?” (1976), etc. (today, most of Fromm’s main works have been published in translation into Russian). The last of these books can be considered a response to the work of the French philosopher G. Marcel “To be or to have?”, where many judgments close to Fromm were made about the negative aspects of technocratic civilization with its uncontrolled cult of consumption. The subtitle of Fromm's book clearly indicates the direction of his search - "Towards a humanized technology."

The rethinking and creative development of Freud's theory put Fromm at the head of one of the influential directions of modern humanities - neo-Freudianism. (Although he is rightfully considered one of the theorists humanistic psychology. The idea of ​​self-actualization is clearly visible in his judgment: “The main life task of a person is to give life to himself, to become what he potentially is. The most important fruit of his efforts is his own personality”) Fromm seeks to shift the emphasis from the biological motives of human behavior in psychoanalysis to social factors and thereby, as it were, balance these two principles. In this, he, in particular, relies on the Marxist concept of the alienation of a person from his essence in the process of work and life, when a person is used as a means, but not as an end. Various options the synthesis of Freudianism with Marxism was generally characteristic of many representatives of the Frankfurt School, but they differed in their views on the role of revolutionism in the transformation of social structures. Thus, G. Marcuse, with whom Fromm personally and in absentia polemicized back in Europe, in his book “Eros and Civilization” accused the neo-Freudians, primarily K. Horney and E. Fromm, of transforming Freudism into a moral preaching - conformist and suitable (or rather, unsuitable) for all times and cultures. Fromm criticized in the teachings of Marcuse those ideas that placed the latter among the leaders of the so-called youth revolution of 1968. Marcuse offers a revolutionary, “surgical” method of treating the diseases of consumer society; Fromm is more inclined to “therapeutic” methods of education, enlightenment, and humanization based on eternal moral values, which, only remaining in the soul of an individual, will not disappear in society. Here, as we see, is an old philosophical dispute about foundations - where to start: with “I” or with “we”? Fromm understood that history creates man, and one of his most famous books, “Man for Himself,” is dedicated to this. The meaning of the book and its title will become clear if we quote the words Fromm took from the Talmud (the years of his apprenticeship were not in vain) as an epigraph:

If I am not for myself, then who will stand up for me?

If I am only for myself, then who am I?

If not now, then when?

Fromm analyzed the types of social characters that are formed various types cultures, showed the role of humanistic and authoritarian ethics in this formation and came to the conclusion that a person can, and therefore must, oppose the external authority of power and the anonymous authority of public opinion with his own mind and will. That is, Fromm saw salvation from authoritarianism in all its various forms in the independence and self-improvement of a person.

This idea is the main one for perhaps his most famous book, “The Art of Love.” A person has to independently choose the path between two abysses - aggressiveness and submission. He differs from other living beings in his mind, and he has nothing to rely on except his mind. However, Fromm should not be considered a purely rationalist, because he had extensive experience in studying human irrationality and could not underestimate its role at the personal level and especially at the level of large social groups. Even on the eve of the Second World War, he showed that totalitarianism, that is, the suppression of independent thought and free will, is the result not only of usurpation and terror of power, but also of the inability of millions of people to value and love freedom and reason, which makes them silent accomplices in atrocities, otherwise and executioners.

Essentially, in today’s world, the only worthy and reliable counteraction to irrational destructiveness remains only reason and good will. The “healthy society” that Fromm thought about has not yet been built. Loneliness, alienation, escape from oppressive reality into the world of narcotic illusions, psychopathology in everyday and social life, the exhausting routine of Sisyphean labor - aren’t these our problems today? Therefore, Fromm’s words are still relevant today: “A person cannot live without faith. The decisive question for our and the next generation is whether it will be an irrational faith in leaders, machines, success, or a rational faith in man, based on the experience of our own fruitful activity.”

M. Mead

(1901–1978)

After all, we live wrong! We suffer from severe complexes, are burdened by ridiculous restrictions, and strain ourselves to perform meaningless rituals. And we raise our children to be the same sufferers, because we don’t know how to do otherwise...

Similar thoughts occur to almost everyone from time to time. And anyone who dares to say them out loud, and even argue convincingly, will certainly be guaranteed an enthusiastic audience. And if you don’t limit yourself to criticism, but offer a constructive alternative, the ovation will be endless.

Such applause for Margaret Mead has not subsided for more than half a century. Educators, sociologists, cultural experts all over the world quote it avidly, psychologists bow before its authority. In intellectual circles at the turn of the century, it became absolutely impossible to talk about raising children or building a healthy society without mentioning Mead's ideas. And this despite the fact that she began her multifaceted activity as an ordinary anthropologist and did not pretend to do more than describe native customs on distant islands. What she saw, however, inspired her so much that the reports on the expeditions resulted in a real revolutionary manifesto. However, as with almost any revolutionary coup, there were scandalous revelations that did not show the prophet in the most favorable light. Who is Margaret Mead and what did she discover in the southern seas that managed to cause a storm of admiration on the one hand and a storm of indignation on the other?

Margaret Mead was born on December 16, 1901 in Philadelphia, the largest city in Pennsylvania. She became the first child born at the newly built West Park Hospital. Margaret's parents came from Quaker families, were very educated people and adhered to progressive views for that time. His father, Edward Sherwood Mead, was a professor of economics at the University of Pennsylvania, and his mother, Emily Mead, a feminist and sociologist, studied the lives of immigrant families.

It can be said that interest in social sciences Margaret absorbed her passion for education with her mother’s milk. Today this will not surprise anyone, but in Puritan America at the beginning of the last century, the desire for their own career was not generally accepted for middle-class women.

The family often moved from place to place, and Margaret had to get used to a new school and new friends each time. Because of this, her relationships with her peers did not always go smoothly. Relations with her parents, apparently, were also not cloudless; in any case, in her autobiography, “Rime on a Blooming Blackberry,” Margaret barely mentions them.

While still in school, she met her future husband, Luther Cressman. Their wedding took place in 1923, when she was already studying at Columbia University. However, Mead's fate was largely determined by other acquaintances that took place during her student years. Under the influence of Franz Boas, the greatest authority in anthropology in those years, Margaret became interested in this science and began to work under his leadership.

At that time, there was a fierce debate in American science about the relationship between biological (hereditary) and social factors in the development of man and society. Franz Boas, Mead's mentor, leaned in favor of the ideas of cultural determinism - he considered culture and education to be fundamental factors in the development of man and society; it is no coincidence that his scientific school was called cultural anthropology.

The study of "primitive" societies revealed unique opportunities to answer the question of how universal human behavior is and to what extent it is subject to cultural influences. Therefore, Boas and his collaborators studied the Eskimos, Kwakiutl, Zuni, Pueblos and other “backward” peoples. But their research was limited to North America, and Margaret Mead had a much longer journey ahead of her.

In 1925, a young researcher, on instructions from her scientific supervisor, went to the islands of Eastern Samoa in the southern part Pacific Ocean to study native customs. Boas was primarily interested in the problem of personality formation in childhood and adolescence. In Western culture, adolescence is traditionally considered (and in most cases actually is) “transitional”, “difficult”. It was very interesting to find out if this is true in another society, within a completely different culture. How does the conflict between fathers and children proceed among a people little affected by Western civilization? If in distant lands it is possible to detect any specific features of this phenomenon, then it will be possible to confirm that social conditions play in the development of a person more important role than the supposedly universal “human nature.”

Mead coped with the task brilliantly, at least judging by the results she obtained. Over the course of a year, she interviewed dozens of Samoan girls and teenagers (it is clear that with boys it was more difficult for her to find mutual language) and came to sensational conclusions. According to her observations, the so-called puberty crisis, which is typical of Western society, simply does not exist in this island culture. The process of personality formation proceeds smoothly and gradually, without aggravations or conflicts. Growing children get along easily with their elders, since they do not set unreasonable demands on them, and on the other hand, they hardly constrain them with any restrictions. Basically - and Mead drew attention to this Special attention– this concerns the sexual sphere. There is complete relaxation here. Premarital sexual relations, mostly short-term, are practiced from a very young age, and this does not confuse or shock anyone. The results are amazing. In Samoa, there are virtually no sexual crimes, or any crime whatsoever. These heavenly places are inhabited by mentally healthy, balanced and truly happy people, who are alien to depression, complexes and neuroses. Needless to say, there is no question of any conflict between fathers and children. Psychiatrists and psychoanalysts simply have nothing to do in Samoa!

Her expedition ended in June 1926, and Mead soon embarked on a six-week ocean voyage to Europe. On board she met a young New Zealand psychologist, Reo Fortune, with whom she became so carried away that in Marseille she did not even notice how the ship moored to the pier. Meanwhile, she was met at the pier by her husband, who had come to Europe especially for this purpose. But Margaret was no longer interested in him; she soon divorced to marry Reo. True, this marriage did not last long. In 1932, on another expedition to New Guinea, Margaret and Reo met the British psychologist and anthropologist Gregory Bateson. A complex love triangle, which was eventually resolved by Margaret's divorce from Reo and marriage to Gregory. In this third marriage, which lasted 14 years and also ended in divorce, Margaret gave birth to a daughter. Paradoxically, such a turbulent fate did not prevent her, a thrice divorced mother of an only child, from acquiring a reputation as a major specialist in family relations and raising children.

The scientific result of the first expedition was the defense of a doctoral dissertation and the publication of the book “Growing Up in Samoa.” It was this publication that made Mead famous throughout the world. The book was published in 1928 with a foreword by Boas himself, which immediately attracted the attention of scientists to it. But this work also made a strong impression on the general public. Fascinatingly and imaginatively written, completely free from scientific tediousness, the book immediately became a bestseller, is still being sold and read (the total circulation in America has exceeded two million copies) and has been translated into seventeen languages, including fragments into Russian. Mead herself loved her book very much and during reprints she never remade it, but only provided new prefaces. The book attracts numerous readers because it clearly and clearly explains: the problems that are familiar to us are not “universal” and are caused by specific features characteristic of our way of life. It is worth changing this way of life following the example of the Samoan “children of nature” - and general spiritual well-being will come.

Subsequently, she wrote several more books - “How to Grow in New Guinea”, “Gender and Temperament in Three primitive societies"and others - none of which, however, ever compared in popularity to her first bestseller.

In the early 50s, Mead attempted a psychological analysis of the Russian mentality - from her point of view, no less interesting than the mentality of the Polynesians and Papuans. It is characteristic that she has never been to Russia. It is also not known whether she even knew any Russians. It seems that the famous anthropologist’s research was limited to reading literary classics. From these authoritative sources (for which special thanks go to Fyodor Mikhailovich and Lev Nikolaevich!) she made the following conclusion. In her opinion, the Russian national character is distinguished by the following features:

tendency to violence;

cunning that gives rise to endless conspiracies;

hysterical confession;

fear of enemies that are often not even clearly defined;

anarchism;

inability to find a compromise;

manic search for truth;

inescapable feeling of guilt.

And what do you think is the basis of all these traits? According to Mead, it is the Russian manner of tightly swaddling babies and keeping them in such a constrained state until they are 9 months old. Long periods of complete passivity and violent emotional release during moments of “unswappling” were reflected in the general rhythm of Russian life and predetermined all the typical features of the national mentality.

It is not surprising that Western psychoanalysts liked this idea. After all, on the one hand, it turned out to be quite in tune with the Freudian doctrine, on the other, it offered an intelligible explanation of the “mysteries of the Russian soul.”

Should we trust the judgment of a famous anthropologist? Or be offended? The Samoans, for example, were very offended by Meade. And only recently it became clear why.

In 1983, five years after Mead's death, Australian ethnographer Derek Freeman published a sensational book, Margaret Mead and Samoa. Creation and debunking of an anthropological myth.” Freeman himself devoted over forty years to studying the life and customs of the Samoans and was perplexed by how much his own observations diverged from Mead’s judgments.

Already from the title of the book it is clear that the author intends to crush the undisputed authority of the internationally recognized anthropologist. In his opinion, Mead’s book “Growing Up in Samoa,” on which her world fame was based, is not so much an account of a scientific expedition as a work of fiction that completely distorts the true way of life of the islanders. Consequently, any conclusions from this creation - psychological, sociological, pedagogical - are absolutely unfounded.

According to Freeman's observations, Samoans are out of the question of conflict-free adolescence; they are much more militant and aggressive than Mead described them, and family upbringing is very authoritarian and based on physical punishment. Sexual permissiveness is most likely the fruit of the raunchy fantasies of those whom Mead questioned, since she could not actually observe anything like that. Samoan girls at all times were brought up in strictness, and sexual promiscuity was severely punished - even self-mutilation. Mead's idyllic picture of life on paradise islands is nothing more than a myth, for in reality the mental pathology and crime here are comparable to what is observed in the West.

How did such a misunderstanding arise? Having analyzed the materials of Mead’s first expedition, Freeman came to the conclusion that, for various reasons, she was actually engaged in direct research not for a year, but for at most a month and a half. It is impossible to collect more or less extensive information in such a time. Mead presented fragmentary data obtained from random sources as the results of a large-scale study, which in itself is simply incorrect.

It is not only her interpretations that raise doubts, but also the data collection procedure itself. The fact is that Mead practically did not know the local language! Even after receiving higher education, she did not bother to learn any foreign language(for a European this seems a little strange, but for America it is in the order of things). She arrived in Samoa with a Polynesian phrasebook under her arm. It’s hard to believe that this was enough to conduct casual conversations on sensitive topics.

In addition, some of the respondents seemed to simply mock the American woman, telling her obscene stories. Can you imagine a scientific study of the mentality of the peoples of the North, based on jokes about the Chukchi? But in this case almost the same thing happened! Let’s keep silent about the Russians, at least the sources there turned out to be more reliable...

A scandal broke out in the scientific world, seriously tarnishing the reputation of... Derek Freeman. Adherents of “free education”, the sexual revolution, feminists and supporters of the neo-shamanistic New Age movement unanimously accused him of casuistry, disrespect for authority, and adherence to conservative social norms. Freeman was suspected of not making his findings public while Mead was alive, fearing her counterarguments. They also noticed that he worked in Western Samoa, and not in Eastern Samoa, like Mead, which supposedly deprives his judgment of scientific reliability.

Until the end of her life, Margaret Mead basked in the rays of fame and led an active scientific and social life. In America, she was no less popular than the famous Benjamin Spock - once they even appeared in a joint radio interview, completely agreeing on most parenting issues. Mead wrote a regular column in Redbook magazine, often spoke at the US Congress on social issues, participated in the work of the United Nations, and was awarded a UNESCO prize. So what if, somewhere on the distant islands, life is not at all the same as she described it? But she correctly guessed what they wanted to hear from her!

Erich Seligmann Fromm - German psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, philosopher, one of the largest representatives of neo-Freudianism - was born in Frankfurt am Main on March 23, 1900. His parents were Orthodox Jews, and Erich received an excellent education for his environment. IN hometown he studied at the gymnasium, where the teaching of general education subjects was combined with the teaching of Jewish religious traditions and the theoretical foundations of religion. After graduating from high school, Fromm became one of those who organized the “Society for Jewish Public Education.”

From 1919 to 1922 he was a student at the University of Heidelberg, where the main objects of study were psychology, sociology and philosophy. At the end educational institution Erich Fromm received his Ph.D. Fascinated by the ideas of Sigmund Freud, he broke with previous values ​​and priorities and showed great interest in the study of psychoanalysis, which he began to combine with practical medicine. Having completed the required mandatory psychoanalytic training, in 1925 he organized a private practice. It has become an inexhaustible source for observing people, studying the social and biological components in the human psyche.

Since 1930, E. Fromm taught psychoanalysis at the University of Frankfurt, during 1930-1933. served as consultant in psychoanalysis and director of the department of social-psychological research at the Horkheimer Institute for Social Research. Fromm later improved his knowledge of psychoanalysis at the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute, and the contacts made here helped him later get to Chicago. Already in 1932, in the fall, he was invited to give a course of lectures at the university of this American city. When the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, Fromm emigrated to Switzerland (Geneva), and the following year to New York.

In 1940, Fromm received American citizenship and worked as a teacher at Bennington College and was a member of the New York American Institute of Psychoanalysis. In 1943, he assisted in the opening of the New York branch of the Washington School of Psychiatry, which was then reorganized into the W. White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis and Psychology. During 1946-1950. Fromm headed this institute. In 1948-1949 was professor emeritus at Yale University; in addition, he was a professor at universities in Michigan and New York.

The period of biography from 1951 to 1974 was associated with living in Mexico, working as a professor of psychology at the National Autonomous University (until 1965). In 1960, the psychologist became a member of the US Socialist Party and even wrote a program for it, which was never adopted as a basis. Fromm combined scientific research and teaching with participation in political life. In 1962, he was one of the observers present at the disarmament conference held in Moscow.

After suffering a heart attack in 1969, Fromm, who also suffered from tuberculosis, began spending the summer in Switzerland. In 1974, he finally moved to this country, his place of residence was Muralto or Locarno. In 1977 and 1978, he suffered a second and third heart attack, respectively, and in 1980, on March 18, he died.