Studying Erich Fromm to understand Racism : The Automaton, Conformity to Social, Class and Group Values - The Individual that never thinks

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Studying Erich Fromm to understand Racism : The Automaton, Conformity to Social, Class and Group Values - The Individual that never thinks

Erich Fromm - From Social Unconsciousness to Class Consciousness
by Bonnie Brennen - Assistant Professor at the School of Mass Communications - Virginia Commonwealth University

Erich Fromm - From Social Unconsciousness to Class Consciousness

Some excerpts :

He notes that it is the fear of isolation and ostracism (and the resulting loss of identity) which causes individuals to repress the awareness of information contrary to the society; people must close their eyes to things which their group claims do not exist and must accept as the truth that which most members say is true, even if their own eyes convince them that the information is false.

What people consider “true, real, sane, arethe clichés accepted by ... society, and much that does not fit in with these clichés is excluded from awareness, is unconscious”. In contemporary capitalist society, individuals confront a “covert authoritarianism” which manipulates them through signals and makes it difficult to distinguish between the authentic and the facade.

People are “under the illusion that they think, but actually, it’ thinks in them”. The prevailing ideology is so ingrained in their consciousness that most people believe that they are thinking actual thoughts even though, according to Fromm, they have never had an authentic thought in their lives.
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The inability of individuals to recognise their false sense of consciousness, to understand that their thoughts, feelings, and ideas are often imposed by outside forces, may be seen to connect with issues of freedom and authority. Fromm describes however the years, the authority of the Church was first replaced by the authority of the State and then in modern history is replaced by an “anonymous authority as it is represented by public opinion, culture patterns, common sense, or 'science' ” which act as tools of conformity.

Unaware of these pressures, on one level most people live under an illusion of individualism and yet they feel insecure and powerless. Human beings have become automatons, thinking and feeling what they should think and feel, yet disconnected from others and ultimately from themselves.

This loss of self results in a lack of confidence in one’s own identity and in an increased need for conformity. When people give up their individuality and spontaneity in an effort to conform, they merely go though the motions of living and they actually become less alive.

“Psychologically the automaton, while being alive biologically, is dead emotionally and mentally”. Fromm explains that while on the surface individuals seem optimistic and satisfied, on a deeper level they remain unfulfilled, unhappy, and desperate; people yearn to be different and independent yet they conform so as not to risk rejection and isolation.

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Passivity is considered one aspect of the alienation process; passive individuals do not actively relate to themselves, or to the outside world, and they feel estranged, anxious, powerless, and lonely.

Alienation pervades modern culture; human beings rarely experience themselves as active participants in society but instead as impoverished things, dependent upon outside powers to give meaning and satisfaction to their lives.
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