Book Part

Erich Fromm und das Institut für Sozialforschung

Author(s) / Creator(s)

Bierhoff, Burkhard

Abstract / Description

Die folgenden Ausführungen haben ihren Ausgangspunkt in der Frage, wie und warum Fromm aus dem Institut für Sozialforschung (IfS) ausgeschieden ist. Vorweg lässt sich sagen, dass es sich um inhaltliche und persönliche Differenzen handelte, die sein Ausscheiden bedingt haben. Hatte zunächst Horkheimer in Fromm einen kompetenten Gesprächspartner in Fragen der Gesellschaftstheorie gefunden und dessen Ansatz einer sozialcharakterologisch begründeten "Analytischen Sozialpsychologie" unterstützt, so kehrte sich Horkheimer später von Fromms psychoanalytischem Ansatz ab. In diesem bei Horkheimer eingetretenen Wandlungsprozess spielte wohl Adorno eine maßgebliche Rolle. Fromm selbst schreibt: "I remember that Horkheimer was also on very friendly terms with Horney in the first years of his stay in New York, and did not then defend orthodox Freudianism. It was only later that he made this change and it is too personal a problem to speculate why he did so. I assume partly this had to do with the influence of Adorno, whom from the very beginning of his appearance in New York I criticized very sharply" (E. Fromm, 1971, S. 9). Fromm, der mit Horney wissenschaftlich und freundschaftlich verbunden war, konnte sich offenbar nicht länger der Zustimmung Horkheimers zu seiner Freud-Revision gewiss sein. Herbert Marcuse merkte zum Ausscheiden Fromms in einem Gespräch mit Jürgen Habermas an: "Der wirkliche Grund für Fromms Entfernung vom Institut war seine Entmannung der Freudschen Theorie, besonders die Revision des Freudschen Begriffs der Triebstruktur. Ob persönliche Dinge mitgespielt haben, darüber kann ich nur Vermutungen anstellen, ich weiß es nicht" (H. Marcuse, J. Habermas u. a., 1978, S. 13).
In this contribution we are offered an analysis of Erich Fromm´s relation to the Institut für Sozialforschung. In his capacity as director of the Department of Social Psychology, Fromm played a leading role in the empirical investigatory work carried out at the Institute, apart from being Horkheimer´s principal interlocutor in questions connected with the psychoanalytic extension of Historical Materialism. Working within the framework of Horkheimer´s envisaged goal of an historicalphilosophical theory of the development of the contemporary era that was to draw on the various disciplines, Fromm made his own specific contribution that came to be known by the name of analytic social psychology. Fromm´s departure from the Institute marked the terminal point of a whole developmental pathway, and was prompted by differences on substantial points as well as by personal differences. In particular, it was Fromm´s revision of psychoanalysis that aroused Horkheimer and Adorno´s critical ire. To the extent that Adorno´s influence grew within the Institute, Fromm´s own suffered as a result. After Adorno´s appointment to full membership of the Institute in 1938, Fromm found himself increasingly reduced to a marginal position; and after a short while he accepted the consequences and left. Fromm´s departure from the Institute led to a lifelong rift between him and the other members of the Institute, the consequence being that Fromm´s contribution to the early versions of the Critical Theory - which he had made as head of the Department of Social Psychology and as director of research - was later deliberately passé sous silence.

Keyword(s)

Psychologie Psychoanalyse Internationale Erich-Fromm-Gesellschaft Frankfurt
/ Institut für Sozialforschung Sozialpsychologie analytische Sozialpsychologie Erich Fromm

Persistent Identifier

Date of first publication

1991

Is part of

Wissenschaft vom Menschen/Science of Man, Jahrbuch der Internationalen Erich Fromm-Gesellschaft. Vol. 2: Erich Fromm und die Kritische Theorie, Münster (Lit Verlag) 1991, pp. 55-81.

Citation

  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Bierhoff, Burkhard
  • PsychArchives acquisition timestamp
    2022-11-21T13:58:08Z
  • Made available on
    2004-06-24
  • Made available on
    2015-12-01T10:31:53Z
  • Made available on
    2022-11-21T13:58:08Z
  • Date of first publication
    1991
  • Abstract / Description
    Die folgenden Ausführungen haben ihren Ausgangspunkt in der Frage, wie und warum Fromm aus dem Institut für Sozialforschung (IfS) ausgeschieden ist. Vorweg lässt sich sagen, dass es sich um inhaltliche und persönliche Differenzen handelte, die sein Ausscheiden bedingt haben. Hatte zunächst Horkheimer in Fromm einen kompetenten Gesprächspartner in Fragen der Gesellschaftstheorie gefunden und dessen Ansatz einer sozialcharakterologisch begründeten "Analytischen Sozialpsychologie" unterstützt, so kehrte sich Horkheimer später von Fromms psychoanalytischem Ansatz ab. In diesem bei Horkheimer eingetretenen Wandlungsprozess spielte wohl Adorno eine maßgebliche Rolle. Fromm selbst schreibt: "I remember that Horkheimer was also on very friendly terms with Horney in the first years of his stay in New York, and did not then defend orthodox Freudianism. It was only later that he made this change and it is too personal a problem to speculate why he did so. I assume partly this had to do with the influence of Adorno, whom from the very beginning of his appearance in New York I criticized very sharply" (E. Fromm, 1971, S. 9). Fromm, der mit Horney wissenschaftlich und freundschaftlich verbunden war, konnte sich offenbar nicht länger der Zustimmung Horkheimers zu seiner Freud-Revision gewiss sein. Herbert Marcuse merkte zum Ausscheiden Fromms in einem Gespräch mit Jürgen Habermas an: "Der wirkliche Grund für Fromms Entfernung vom Institut war seine Entmannung der Freudschen Theorie, besonders die Revision des Freudschen Begriffs der Triebstruktur. Ob persönliche Dinge mitgespielt haben, darüber kann ich nur Vermutungen anstellen, ich weiß es nicht" (H. Marcuse, J. Habermas u. a., 1978, S. 13).
    de
  • Abstract / Description
    In this contribution we are offered an analysis of Erich Fromm´s relation to the Institut für Sozialforschung. In his capacity as director of the Department of Social Psychology, Fromm played a leading role in the empirical investigatory work carried out at the Institute, apart from being Horkheimer´s principal interlocutor in questions connected with the psychoanalytic extension of Historical Materialism. Working within the framework of Horkheimer´s envisaged goal of an historicalphilosophical theory of the development of the contemporary era that was to draw on the various disciplines, Fromm made his own specific contribution that came to be known by the name of analytic social psychology. Fromm´s departure from the Institute marked the terminal point of a whole developmental pathway, and was prompted by differences on substantial points as well as by personal differences. In particular, it was Fromm´s revision of psychoanalysis that aroused Horkheimer and Adorno´s critical ire. To the extent that Adorno´s influence grew within the Institute, Fromm´s own suffered as a result. After Adorno´s appointment to full membership of the Institute in 1938, Fromm found himself increasingly reduced to a marginal position; and after a short while he accepted the consequences and left. Fromm´s departure from the Institute led to a lifelong rift between him and the other members of the Institute, the consequence being that Fromm´s contribution to the early versions of the Critical Theory - which he had made as head of the Department of Social Psychology and as director of research - was later deliberately passé sous silence.
    en
  • Publication status
    unknown
  • Review status
    unknown
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bsz:291-psydok-2280
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11780/979
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.10311
  • Language of content
    deu
  • Is part of
    Wissenschaft vom Menschen/Science of Man, Jahrbuch der Internationalen Erich Fromm-Gesellschaft. Vol. 2: Erich Fromm und die Kritische Theorie, Münster (Lit Verlag) 1991, pp. 55-81.
  • Keyword(s)
    Psychologie
    de
  • Keyword(s)
    Psychoanalyse
    de
  • Keyword(s)
    Internationale Erich-Fromm-Gesellschaft
    de
  • Keyword(s)
    Frankfurt
    / Institut für Sozialforschung
    de
  • Keyword(s)
    Sozialpsychologie
    de
  • Keyword(s)
    analytische Sozialpsychologie
    de
  • Keyword(s)
    Erich Fromm
    de
  • Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)
    150
  • Title
    Erich Fromm und das Institut für Sozialforschung
    de
  • DRO type
    bookPart
  • Visible tag(s)
    PsyDok
  • Visible tag(s)
    Schriften der Internationalen Erich-Fromm-Gesellschaft e.V.