The Rational Society and the Human Soul

In the early 1930s, against the backdrop of political upheavals, Erich Fromm began to take a serious interest in social psychology. Building on Freud's discoveries about the unconscious, he went further and formulated his own theory of the social unconscious, entering into an implicit polemic with his former teacher. In his revolutionary article "The Impulsive Structure of Man and Its Relation to Culture," Fromm proposed the idea that man acts under the influence of not only the drives of nature and the circumstances of personal biography but significantly also under the impact of social processes and societal norms. The article met with strong disapproval from Freud's supporters; however, Fromm did not back down from his beliefs and continued his research. Later, Fromm's social-psychoanalytic theory was further developed in books that entered the golden fund of social philosophy: "The Healthy Society" and "Escape from Freedom."
The collection also includes other works by the author dedicated to the conflict between the spiritual needs of man and the demands of society.

Erich Fromm (1900–1980) is one of the greatest thinkers of the 20th century, one of the great cohort of "philosophers of psychology," and a spiritual leader of the Frankfurt School of Sociology. His works have made an invaluable contribution to the development of social psychology and humanistic psychoanalysis.