fei75766_ch08_242-270.indd 260  02/06/20 12:02 PM
Part II    Psychodynamic Theories260
social character inChiconcuac, aMexican village about 50miles south ofMexico 
City. Theteam interviewed every adult andhalfthechildren inthisisolated farm-
ingvillage of162households andabout 800inhabitants. Thepeople ofthevillage 
weremostly farmers, earning aliving from small plots offertile land. AsFromm and
Michael Maccoby (1970) described them:
They areselfish, suspicious ofeachothers’ motives, pessimistic about thefuture, 
andfatalistic. Many appear submissive andself-deprecatory, although theyhavethe
potential forrebelliousness andrevolution. They feelinferior tocitypeople, more 
stupid, andlesscultured. There isanoverwhelming feeling ofpowerlessness to
influence either nature ortheindustrial machine thatbears down onthem. (p.37)
Could oneexpect tofindFromm’s character orientations insuchasociety? 
After living among thevillagers andgaining theiracceptance, theresearch team 
employed anassortment oftechniques designed toanswer thisandother questions. 
Included among theresearch tools wereextensive interviews, dream reports, detailed 
questionnaires, andtwoprojective techniques—the Rorschach inkblot testandthe
Thematic Apperception Test.
Fromm believed thatthemarketing character wasaproduct ofmodern com-
merce andthatitismost likely toexistinsocieties where trade isnolonger personal 
andwhere people regard themselves ascommodities. Notsurprisingly, theresearch 
team found thatthemarketing orientation didnotexistamong these peasant villagers.
However, theresearchers didfindevidence forseveral other character types, 
themost common ofwhich wasthenonproductive-receptive type. People ofthisorien -
tation tended tolookuptoothers anddevoted much energy intrying toplease those 
whom theyregarded assuperiors. Onpaydays, working menwhobelonged tothis
typewould accept theirpayinservile fashion, asifsomehow theyhadnotearned it.
Thesecond most frequently found personality typewastheproductive-  
hoarding character. People ofthistypewerehardworking, productive, andindepen -
dent. They usually farmed theirownplotoflandandrelied onsaving partofeach
cropforseedandforfoodintheevent ofafuture cropfailure. Hoarding, rather than
consuming, wasessential totheirlives.
Thenonproductive-exploitative personality wasidentified asathird character ori-
entation. Menofthistypeweremost likely togetintoknife orpistol fights, whereas 
thewomen tended tobemalicious gossipmongers (Fromm &Maccoby, 1970). Only 
about 10%ofthepopulation waspredominantly exploitative, asurprisingly small 
percentage considering theextreme poverty ofthevillage.
Anevensmaller number ofinhabitants weredescribed asproductive-  
exploitative —nomore than15individuals inthewhole village. Among them werethe
richest andmost powerful meninthevillage—men whohadaccumulated capital by
taking advantage ofnewagricultural technology aswellasarecent increase intour-
ism.They hadalsotaken advantage ofthenonproductive-receptive villagers bykeep-
ingthem economically dependent.
Ingeneral, Fromm andMaccoby (1970) reported aremarkable similarity 
between character orientations inthisMexican village andthetheoretical orienta -
tions Fromm hadsuggested some years earlier. Thisanthropological study, ofcourse, 
cannot beconsidered aconfirmation ofFromm’s theory. Asoneofthestudy’s princi -
palinvestigators, Fromm maysimply havefound what hehadexpected tofind.Final PDF to printer