Eric Fromm initiated the incorporation of depth psychology into the Frankfurt
School’s critique of domination. To do so, he moved from Freud’s biologi-
cally rooted drive-object theory, to a more social/interactional notion of
historically-based desires for creative self-transcendence (agency), loving
attachments to Others, for genuine self love (dignity) and a framework of
meaning and devotion. For Fromm, frustrations of such desires often led to
anxiety and in turn, he argued that submission to powerful authorities and/or
a love of death and destruction could assuage fears and anxiety. In his terms,
the “escape from freedom”, and “necrophilia” were the essence of fascist lean-
ings (Fromm 1941; 1973). In the present context, fundamentalism as political
Islam, what can be called “clerical fascism” (Berlet 2005), can be theorized as
the psychosocial reaction structural crises, as well as crises of identity-moti-
vation. Fundamentalism speaks to frustrated longings. In the face of power-
lessness, attenuated social ties, humiliation and challenges to traditional
frameworks of meaning, people are prone to join subcultures with ideologies
of redemptive violence against evil doers that yet provide a sense of voice
(agency), community, dignity and meaning. Fundamentalisms provide mem-
bership in a valorized, dignity-granting community of meaning that has been
constructed on the basis of “imagined” traditions and values in face of enemy
non-believers.^50
Further, it should be noted that in most societies, powerlessness and humil-
iation are experienced as incompatible with certain notions of assertive mas-
culinity. When men are rendered powerless and humiliated, the combination
of castration anxiety and narcissistic insult elicit shame and in turn, engen-
der rage and intense desires for compensatory amelioration. For Scheff (1994),
the failure to recognize this unconscious shame becomes the basis for irra-
tional rage. Fundamentalisms typically valorize the dignity of the believer
and privilege essentialist notions of masculinity. Thus, membership in cer-
tain kinds of identity-granting communities of meaning that embrace vio-
lence as both a means to an end and identity, from Nazis to skinheads to
Islamism can provide alternative visions and valorize esteemed identities
328 • Lauren Langman
(^50) Fundamentalisms, like religion in general, provide solidarity and a positive val-
uation of the self, feelings of agency and, of course, frameworks of meaning. The dif-
ference between fundamentalism and “ordinary” religion, however, is the demand
for compliance to superior powers and intense hatred to evil others. Much the same
can be said about extreme nationalisms that can often turn xenophobic and aggressive.