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Escapes from Freedom: Political Extremism, Conspiracy Theories, and the Sociology of Emotions

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The Unhappy Divorce of Sociology and Psychoanalysis

Part of the book series: Studies in the Psychosocial ((STIP))

Abstract

Although sociology and psychoanalysis have a troubled history and relationship, Erich Fromm’s theory of social character is a good entry point for reconciling and reviving dialogue between the two traditions. Ironically Fromm—who can be characterized as a “forgotten intellectual”—had a conflicted relationship with empirical sociology, the Freudian tradition and the Frankfurt School within which his theory of character was forged (McLaughlin, 1998). To many sociologists, he was perceived as a second-rate thinker within two discredited traditions, Marxism and psychoanalysis. And Fromm was also discredited among some psychoanalytic theorists, particularly those holding to mid-twentieth century “drive” orthodoxies as well as language-oriented Lacanians who thought his work undermined core Freudian insights into the unconscious and human emotions.

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Authors
  1. Neil McLaughlin
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Hunter College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York, USA

    Lynn Chancer  & John Andrews  & 

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© 2014 Neil McLaughlin

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McLaughlin, N. (2014). Escapes from Freedom: Political Extremism, Conspiracy Theories, and the Sociology of Emotions. In: Chancer, L., Andrews, J. (eds) The Unhappy Divorce of Sociology and Psychoanalysis. Studies in the Psychosocial. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137304582_8

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