Beyond Freud: From Individual to Social Psychoanalysis - Paperback

by Erich Fromm (Author)

The acclaimed social psychologist and New York Times-bestselling author of The Art of Loving examines what drives human beings.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Sigmund Freud was the first scientist to attempt to present the reality of the individual human being's unconscious and to find ways of dealing with unconscious forces. In the early 1930s, Erich Fromm built upon Freud's insights on the individual and began to study the unconscious of society. However, this attempt soon revealed the limits of the theory of drives, which Freud used to bring his discoveries into a systematic explanatory context.

In Beyond Freud, Fromm discusses his findings in relation to Freud's. In studying both the unconsciousness of the individual and of society, Fromm found that Freud wrongly based psychology totally on natural factors; Freud needed to include social influences as well.

This book is broken into three dynamic sections:
1. Man's Impulse Structure and Its Relation to Culture
2. Psychic Needs and Society (1956 lecture)
3. Dealing with the Unconscious in Psychotherapeutic Practice (1959 lecture)

Beyond Freud explores the understanding of psychoanalytic theory, relating Freudian observations and practices to the needs of society; handling the unconscious in psychotherapeutic practice; and considering the relevance of Freud's discoveries for therapy today.

Author Biography

Erich Fromm (1900-1980) was a bestselling psychoanalyst and social philosopher whose views about alienation, love, and sanity in society--discussed in his books such as Escape from Freedom, The Art of Loving, The Sane Society, and To Have or To Be?--helped shape the landscape of psychology in the mid-twentieth century. Fromm was born in Frankfurt, Germany, to Jewish parents, and studied at the universities of Frankfurt, Heidelberg (where in 1922 he earned his doctorate in sociology), and Munich. In the 1930s he was one of the most influential figures at the Frankfurt Institute of Social Research. In 1934, as the Nazis rose to power, he moved to the United States. He practiced psychoanalysis in both New York and Mexico City before moving to Switzerland in 1974, where he continued his work until his death.