Erich Fromm, American psychoanalyst, in his discourse, Escape from Freedom, analyzed the role that freedom plays for the individual and society in a socio-cultural and historical context. Tracing the origins of freedom in human society, Fromm explains how humans have gradually gained freedom, with the emergence of socio-economic development through innovations and technologies. Thus, greater resources lead to increased social mobility, enabling the individual to do what s/he wants to do; in effect, there also occurs an increased need to become successful and prosperous economically as upward social mobility is achieved. However, Fromm, as he discusses in the book, the socially and economically mobile in a predominantly individualist society will eventually need to put control in himself/herself. This means that due to his/her ability to do things independently in life, the individual has become isolated, or too much individualized, which leads the individual to crave,' not only social companionship but also social control. Thus, Fromm formulated typologies that identify the different ways in which people try to "escape from freedom" that is, ways in which an individual tries to cultivate social control within the individualized and liberal self. These typologies are identified as follows: authoritarianism,
destructiveness, and automaton conformity.
Authoritarianism, the first typology of Fromm's escape from freedom,
where an individual "seek to avoid freedom by†becoming part of an
authoritarian system" (Boeree, 2004). In this respect, authoritarianism
can be achieved either through the masochistic or sadistic methods.
Masochism is the individual's desire for control and there is voluntary,
yet passive, submission to power. Sadism, on the other hand, involves
active submission to power, inflicting on other people this power and
control in their desire for social control and become overpowered.
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