The Sociology Book

188

See also: G.H. Mead 176–77 ■ Robert Blauner 232–33 ■ Arlie Hochschild 236–43

■ Robert K. Merton 262–63 ■ Erving Goffman 264–69 ■ Ann Oakley 318–19

T

he German sociologist

and psychoanalyst Erich

Fromm claimed that

during industrialization in the

19th century, God was declared

dead, “inhumanity” meant cruelty,

and the inherent danger was that

people would become slaves.

However, in the 20th century,

the problem changed: alienated

from a sense of self, people had

lost the ability to love and reason

for themselves. “Man” effectively

died. “Inhumanity” came to

mean lacking humanity. People,

Fromm advised, were in danger

of becoming like robots.

He attributed this sense

of alienation to the emergence

of Western capitalist societies

and believed that a state’s social,

economic, and political factors

intersect to produce a “social

character” common to all its

citizens. In the industrial age,

as capitalism increased its global

dominance, states encouraged

people to become competitive,

exploitative, authoritarian,

aggressive, and individualist.

In the 20th century, by contrast,

individuals were repositioned

by capitalist states to become

cooperative consumers, with

standardized tastes, who could be

manipulated by the anonymous

authority of public opinion and the

market. Technology ensured that

work became more routine and

boring. Fromm advised that unless

people “get out of the rut” they

are in and reclaim their humanity,

they will go mad trying to live a

meaningless, robotic life. ■

T H E D A N G E R O F T H E

FUTURE IS THAT MEN

MAY BECOME ROBOTS

E R I C H F R O M M ( 1 9 0 0 – 1 9 8 0 )

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Alienation of self

KEY DATES

1844 Karl Marx says humans

become alienated from their

own essence as a systemic

result of capitalism.

1903 In The Metropolis

and Mental Life, Georg Simmel

suggests urban life breeds

alienation and indifference.

1955 Erich Fromm publishes

The Sane Society.

1956 US sociologist Leo Srole

develops an alienation scale.

1959 US sociologist Melvin

Seeman says alienation

results from powerlessness,

normlessness, social isolation,

cultural estrangement, and

self-estrangement.

1968 Israeli-American

sociologist Amitai Etzioni says

alienation results from social

systems that do not cater to

basic human needs.

Synthetic smiles have

replaced genuine laughter...

dull despair has taken the

place of genuine pain.

Erich Fromm