The concept of alienation of erich fromm

Author(s):  A.I. Kravchenko, Dr., Prof., Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia, kravchenkoai@mail.ru

Issue:  Volume 43, №1

Rubric:  Human Being. Culture. Society

Annotation:  The article considers the concept of alienation of E. Fromm, which served as the initial basis for the formation of modern ideas about this phenomenon in modern Western social psychology and sociology. The review is based on material specifically devoted to this issue and not translated into Russian. The necessity of a new ap-proach to Fromm is due to the fact that in the translated books of the outstanding thinker, in particular «Escape from Freedom», there is no integral and at the same time concise sketch of alienation. The term itself occurs in the text only 7 times. Historically, the term «alienation» denoted psychophysiological pathology in Spain and France, and in Germany and England - a form of social pathology. In this regard, E. Fromm considers aliena-tion at the same time as an objective position of the individual and/or group in society and society. Analyzing the historical evolution of alienation, the thinker compares mono-and polytheistic forms of religion, arguing that only in polytheism – through the worship of idols – is the whole essence of man subjected to alienation, and monotheism considers man to be an infinite variety in which no final quality of personality can be torn off and hypostatized. However, over time, monotheism regressed into idolatry and transmitted the power of his love to God. As a result, man became part of alienated power. In a secular society, the worship of a political leader, state, ideology or theory is a manifestation of irrational passions - the process of alienation

Keywords:  E. Fromm, alienation, K. Marx, production, consumption, man, consciousness

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