Escape From Freedom

Throughout Fromm’s societal analysis in Escape from Freedom, he frequently considers the relation between human nature and society. Though Fromm draws upon theories from the fields of psychology and sociology, his approach to the question of society’s impact on human nature differs from both fields’ understandings. Psychology has traditionally understood there to be an inherent human nature that exists outside of any societal or historical context. In Freud’s theories, human nature is governed by a set of unconscious drives that are seen “as eternal forces rooted in the biological constitution of man” (25). Sociology stands in contrast to Freud’s theory, usually believing humankind to be a product of his or her social circumstances.

Fromm sees Escape from Freedom as a work of social psychology, and his understanding of human nature blends the ideas of both sociology and psychology. Social psychology aims to show both “how passions, desires, anxieties change and develop as a result of the social process, but also how man’s energies thus shaped into specific forms in their turn become productive forces, molding the social process” (28).

Though Fromm believes mankind’s personality and nature is largely dictated by societal forces, he does not think that one can view humanity as completely socially constructed.