The Pathology of Normalcy - Paperback

by Erich Fromm (Author)

The legendary social psychologist and New York Times-bestselling author meditates on ideas of mental health and normalcy in contemporary society.

At the beginning of the 1950s, Erich Fromm increasingly questioned whether people in contemporary industrial society were mentally healthy. Eventually the topic of various lectures, Fromm's new social psychoanalytic approach enabled him to further develop the psychoanalytic method into a comprehensive critique of the pathology of the "normal," socially adjusted human being. He was thus able to subject to a radical analysis the widespread strivings that dominate behavior in society--and therefore question what is "normal," what is beneficial to mental health, and what makes people ill.

In The Pathology of Normalcy, Fromm examines the concepts of mental health and mental illness in modern society. He discusses, through a series of lectures, subjects including a frame of reference for evaluating mental health, the relationship between mental health issues and alienation, and the connection between psychological and economic theory. Finally, he elucidates how humanity can overcome "the insane society," as well as its own innate laziness.

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.