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Chapter 8    Fromm: Humanistic Psychoanalysis265
wastohaveastrong feeling ofestrangement (Bernard, Gebauer, &Maio, 2006). This
isnotsurprising. Basically, ifyourvalues aredifferent from those ofyoursociety or
culture, youfeelasthough youaredifferent andnotnormal. Thisisalsoprecisely 
what Fromm’s theory predicts. Themore distant people feelfrom those around them 
intheircommunity, themore people arelikely tofeelisolated.
Tofurther testFromm’s ideas, Bernard andcolleagues (2006) nextexamined 
whether having afeeling ofestrangement from one’s culture wasrelated toincreased 
feelings ofanxiety anddepression. Thesame participants whocompleted theself-
report measures ofvalue discrepancies andestrangement alsocompleted ameasure 
ofanxiety anddepression. Justastheresearchers predicted, andasFromm’s theory 
contends, themore estranged from society people feltingeneral, themore anxious and
depressed theywere. Although estrangement from society ingeneral wasdetrimental 
towell-being, there wasaspecific typeofestrangement thatwasbadforpeople. Those 
whofeltasense ofestrangement from theirfriends reported increased feelings ofanxi-
etyanddepression. Thisfinding suggests thatfeeling estranged from society ingeneral 
maymake people more susceptible tofeelings ofdepression, butthese feelings canbe
lessened ifaperson canfindagroup ofpeople whoshare theirbeliefs, evenifthose are
notthebeliefs ofthesociety ingeneral. Itisparticularly harmful, however, ifpeople 
feelestranged notonlyfrom society ingeneral, butalsofrom those closest tothem. 
Taken together, these findings clearly support theideas ofErich Fromm. The
modern society inwhich weliveprovides uswithinnumerable conveniences andben-
efits. Butthose conveniences docome atacost.Personal freedom andasense of
individuality areimportant, butwhen those forces leadpeople tobeestranged from 
theircommunity, itcanbeharmful totheirwell-being.
Authoritarianism and Fear
Foundational toFromm’s (1941) theory isthatfreedom is,ironically, frightening. Indi-
viduals seektoescape freedom through mechanisms likeauthoritarianism, destruction, 
orconformity toeasethefearofisolation. Shortly afterFromm’s publication ofEscape 
from Freedom, scholars became interested particularly intheauthoritarian escape mech -
anism. Thecentral ideabehind Escape from Freedom isthatpeople areattracted toabso-
luteanswers andcertainty, evenifitmeans authoritarian dictators, when theyareafraid 
anduncertain. Following Fromm, Adorno andcolleagues published abook entitled 
The Authoritarian Personality in1950, andthiswork spurred agreat dealofresearch, 
ongoing today, intothequestion ofauthoritarianism asapersonality orientation. How-
ever,much ofthiswork hasveered away from Fromm’s original conceptualization and
focused ontheoutcomes ofauthoritarianism, including prejudice andhostility.
Recently, however, J.Corey Butler (2009) hassought toreopen thequestion 
oftherelationship between fearandauthoritarianism. Adorno (1950) postulated that
authoritarianism istheconsequence ofoverly harsh parenting during childhood, lead-
ingtoageneralized sense ofafearabout theinterpersonal world. Butler’s work, incon-
trast, isaneffort toconfirm Fromm’s ideathatfeelings ofpowerlessness engendered 
bytheisolation ofmodern, “free” society leadtoauthoritarian submission. Sociologi -
calstudies doindeed show thatgroups shifttoward authoritarianism during times of
economic orsocial strain (e.g., Rickert, 1998), preferring order andstability. Consis -
tentwithFromm’s original thesis, Butler predicted that,since authoritarians giveupFinal PDF to printer