The Sane Society

Swedish psychoanalyst Erich Fromm probes the cerebral vigor of modern 21st century western civilization where humans are reduced to automatons who consume just to escape modern day drudgery and alienation from others.
Fromm touches all aspects of western modernism from which pathological neurosis arises like isolated living in hi-rises to alienated relationships through technological advances, where temporary instant gratification has become a necessity like a drug.
I found the psychological effect of Karl Marx’s concept of “Abstraction” arising from putting a $value on every interaction which gives a sense of separation and hence un-accountability very intriguing.
Having read Fromm’s previous works , this only adds to this show more Neo-Freudian man’s immense faculty to see way ahead of his time , a must read ! show less

Not my favorite of Fromm's -- That honor is still reserved for the three-way tie of Escape from Freedom, The Art of Loving, and Marx's Concept of Man -- but he still impresses with his daunting intellect and analytic capacity.

The book begins well and quickly draws you in, as Fromm reviews his argument against Western society and the way that it alienates man from himself, inadvertently creating a modern "robotism." This line of thought is taken from his previous books (including the ones listed above) and further developed in an engaging way.

The last two chapters, however, where he turns to solutions for transforming our society into a humanistic communitarian socialist democracy, fall flat. This is perhaps chiefly due to the material show more being dated, most obvious when he actually proposes to dismantle the film industry due to its pernicious effect on our psyches. This is something which might have been half-conceivable in the 50s, though it still strikes one as more than a little bizarre. Then he proposes a hypothetical town-hall bottom-up government in which the politicians refer all of their legislation to 500-person "face-to-face" groups where they can discuss and decide on policy at the grass-roots level. This just struck me as quaint, and would be utterly impossible in today's hyper-mobile age.

Ultimately, Fromm leans heavily on the Communitarian Socialist model proposed by Owen in England, and later popularized to some degree in France. He spends a large portion of Chapter 8 describing one such watch-making community, where the workers are the owners and participate equally in all the decision-making, earning in accordance with how much they contribute to the community, whether it be through watches or extracurriculars such as music, teaching, gardening, or what-have-you.

It is a nice picture that he paints, but when describing the political decision-making process, I couldn't help but feel like there was simply way too much bureacracy involved. Really? I have to go to a weekly, monthly, and bi-annual meeting just to make sure this stuff all runs effectively? What if my idea of fulfilling my human potential is not worrying about all of this organizational BS? What if I require solitude in order to realize my potential? I have no doubt that certain driven people could make this work, and probably quite enjoy it. But to propose it as a solution for all of humanity seems naive, or maybe just asking a lot of them for the time being. I can't help but wonder what Fromm would have thought if he had lived to see where we're at now. He probably would have been depressed. show less

Interesante obra, aunque, quizá, es poco detallado para las enormes ideas que tiene. Critica la sociedad capitalista desde los ángulos conservadores (esencialmente, el religioso cristiano) y revolucionario (marxista), haciendo una absurda pero cautivante mezcla que redunda en una inteligente crítica. No obstante, esta obra es hija de su tiempo, y, por lo tanto, ya no es válida. Puede decirse que Fromm se equivocó en demasiadas ideas en este libro.

critique of 20th cent. capitalism, circa 1950, how society fails to meet basic human needs

Required reading for business owners, vulture capitalists, managers, and anyone else at the top of the hierarchy.

150 FRO 1

U of O 1970 - bought it for $.95