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Part II    Psychodynamic Theories264
thehuman being feltthat“hisselfwasbacked upbythepossession ofproperty. ...The
lesshefelthewasbeing somebody, themore heneeded tohavepossessions’’ (p.122). In
turn,thisalienation fromtheself,thissubstituting ofaccumulation ofmaterial goods for
thefreedom andautonomy oftheproductive orientation, leads toalienation fromone’s 
community andalossofone’s sense ofbelongingness (1955, 1976).
Alain VanHiel, IlseCornelis, andArne Roets tested thislineofreasoning ina
study oftherelationship between materialism andprejudice (2010). Asample of300
students andolder adults inBelgium completed scales assessing theirlevels ofmate -
rialism (Richins &Dawson, 1992; e.g.,“The things Iownsayalotabout howwellI
amdoing inlife”), community concern (Kasser &Ryan, 1996; e.g.,“Itisimportant 
toassist people inneed, asking nothing inreturn”), aswellasbothsubtle andmore 
blatant racism (e.g., “Immigrants aregetting toodemanding intheirpush forequal 
rights”; “Itisbetter thatpeople ofdifferent races havelittlecontact witheachother”). 
They found strong support forthemediating roleofmaterialism inexplaining the
relationship between community concern andprejudice. Thatis,people’s levels of
concern fortheircommunity weresignificantly andnegatively related tomaterialism, 
which inturnpredicted higher levels ofracism. Thisfinding supports Fromm’s asser -
tionthatfocusing ontheaccumulation ofpossessions results inalienation from our
community, andalackofconcern foritsmembers’ well-being. Furthermore, though 
Fromm didnotpredict thisperse,racism canbeaparticularly problematic outcome 
ofthisalienation, aswelikely begin tofeelthataccumulation isazerosumgame, and
those different thanusthreaten ourability to“winthemost toys.”
Estrangement from Culture and Well-Being
Recall thatthecentral theme toErich Fromm’s theory ofpersonality involves estrange -
ment andalienation: Humans havebecome removed from thenatural environment 
theyweredesigned toinhabit anddistanced from oneanother. Furthermore, according 
toFromm, thematerial wealth created bycapitalism hascreated somuch freedom that
quite frankly wedonotknow what todowithourselves. Anxiety andisolation, ironi-
cally, result from toomuch freedom. Mark Bernard andcolleagues (2006) sought to
testthese central components ofFromm’s theory through theuseofself-report mea-
sures inasample ofundergraduate students inGreat Britain. Specifically, theresearch -
erswanted totestwhether ornotdiscrepancies between aperson’s ownbeliefs andthe
waytheperson perceived thebeliefs ofhisorhersociety ledtofeelings ofestrangement.
Seventy-two participants completed aquestionnaire consisting ofseveral values 
thathadbeen identified byprevious research asbeing present inmany different cul-
tures (such astheimportance offreedom, wealth, spirituality, etc.). First, participants 
rated eachvalue forhowmuch itwasaguiding principle intheirlives, andthenthey
rated thesame values onhowmuch eachwasaguiding principle fortheirsociety. 
Administering thequestionnaire inthismanner allowed theresearchers tocompute 
theextent towhich eachparticipant heldvalues thatweredifferent from theirsoci-
etyingeneral. Second, estrangement wasassessed byhaving participants complete 
aquestionnaire withitems thatasked them howmuch theyfeltdifferent from their
society andtheextent towhich theyfelttheywerenot“normal” intheirculture.
Thefindings ofthestudy wereaspredicted. Themore aperson reported that
hisorhervalues werediscrepant from society ingeneral, themore likely heorsheFinal PDF to printer