Erich Fromm, Escape from Freedom

1、Kate RussellDesigning Interdisciplinary ResearchProfessor CoventryDraft Literature ReviewDecember 15, 2006An in-depth exploration into the modern experience of adolescence amidst all of the technological innovation that is currently available today requires an exploration also into the related field

2、s of cultural theory, sociology and interpersonal interaction, community building, media studies, and history, to enable some sort of cultural contextualization to result. This project, categories, research, and arguments will be evaluated primarily from a popular culture point of view. My overall i

3、nterest in this research and this project is to explore how adolescents within American society are responding to the cultural shifts and changing social environment that is brought about by the new forms of communication and interaction enabled by technological innovation, and how this correspondin

4、gly affects the way American teens are growing up and how this ultimately influences the American family and larger social framework as a result. The literature surrounding this larger topic, as well as the smaller ones within it, are best divided into three categories following the initial establis

5、hment of the theoretical framework which my work will utilize. These three categories include: a historical and theoretical approach to technological advancement, social disconnection, and shifts in previously established social codes of conduct among individuals within American society; Youth media

6、 culture and the dynamics of the American family in todays world as well as the role of technological innovation and online communication modes within this and the effects they can have; and, thirdly, literature that involves generational studies focusing on the American teen, adolescent social inte

7、raction trends and studies, and the role of technology and youth sociology in political engagement (to be in the form of a small case-study) to attempt to communicate that technological innovation does not have to foster solely disconnection among people, but can also be a key instigator in the form

8、ation of new types of communities, particularly online ones through forums and blogs. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKAn initial theorist whose work and arguments will serve as foundational framework material for my project is Donald Fiske. His essay, Specificity of Method and Knowledge in Social Science aims

9、to describe what Fiske believes to be the components of the field and experience of social science itself, aiming to explain the effects of a social scientific approach on the study of individuals within society and the challenges that may result. “knowledge in social science is fragmented, is compo

10、sed of multiple discrete parcels, and that the separateness or specificity of those bodies of knowledge is a consequence, not only of different objects of inquiry, but also of method specificity.” Fiske, Donald and Richard A. Shweder (Eds). Metatheory in Social Science: Pluralisms and Subjectivities

11、. Chicago/London: The University of Chicago Press, 1986. Page 62. Fiskes beliefs as to the future and progression of the social sciences as a method to analyze and examine human society within it are generally that, just as many human mistakes and errors in history were repetitions of those made in

12、the past, “similarly, the best prediction of what will happen in social science is based on what has happened.persistence characterizes many bodies of knowledge that are deemed pertinent to societal problems, issues with which society contendsbodies of knowledge also persist because they involve ver

13、bal abstractions, for example aggression and culture that are derived from the way people have construed their everyday experience.” Ibid, page 70-71.Fiskes more generalized beliefs on the field of social science and the interaction between the factors that comprise it will be a useful way to concei

14、ve of the overarching approach to my topic, problems, and questions, as the ultimate tone of my work will be sociological. The view that the social sciences are composed of several disparate bodies of knowledge and that no complete, uniform analysis is possible with regard to social questions will b

15、e a critical part of my establishment of my research and scholarship, and will serve to refine my work that much more as a result.I plan to use several theoretical works that have relation to the field of cultural studies and technology, from whence to extract arguments about the role of these innov

16、ations on the societies to which they are introduced and how these and the capabilities they may offer, whatever they may be, also have profound effects on the cultural values and codes of conduct of that society. An example of such a work is Lynn Spigels Make Room for TV: Television and the Family

17、Ideal in Postwar America. Spigels work examines the technological innovation of television from a cultural and historical point of view and there is a large concentration within her research on the ability of the technology to provoke shifts from primary exhibition experiences from the public space

18、to the privacy of peoples own homes. This, Spiegel argues, affected social mores of the time, particularly the ways in which people in society interacted with each other now that they could largely obtain what was previously an experience reserved for movie theaters could now be enjoyed and controll

19、ed in a space of each individuals choosing, thanks to the technology behind the television. A central question she asks in her Introduction is “How, over the course of a single decade, did television become part of peoples daily routines?” Spigel, Lynn. Make Room for TV: Television and the Family Id

20、eal in Postwar America. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1992. Page 2. To this end, Spigel employs historical, cultural, and social approaches to the technology of the television and the changes it brought into effect in all three arenas. The blurring of public and private spaces, Speigel a

21、rgues, influenced changes in community formation, family dynamics, and home construction in the new suburban developments. Spigel also quotes Warren Susman, from his work “Culture and Communications” from his work, Culture as History. Spiegel uses Susmans theories to influence her own in terms of th

22、e role of technology in inciting fear and anxiety within societies culturally, as well as how they “help to shape the form and content that communications media take.Susman describes what I Spigel will call a dialogical relationship between communication technology and culture” Spigel, Lynn. Make Ro

23、om for TV: Television and the Family Ideal in Postwar America. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1992. Page 3-4. Although Spiegels work centers primarily around television, it is useful in the context of my research because of the cultural and sociological arguments, methods, and findings it

24、 presents that can be related to later developments in technology that would come in later years, particularly in my case, the Internet and online communication systems. These too have changed community relations, family dynamics, home design, and peoples relations with each other. In this sense, Sp

25、eigels work can serve as a work of cultural inquiry and theoretical foundation for my exploration into adolescent sociology, community formation, and the online environment. Other prominent theorists in the field of cultural studies will be used to ensure that my research has a solid theoretical roo

26、t and base. Paul A. Shackel, in his essay entitled “Consumerism and the Structuring of Social Relations: An Historical Archaeological Perspective,” explores the material goods that comprise what is commonly known as popular culture. As is made clear in the introduction to Shackels work, “Goods estab

27、lish norms and culture flaws and must be understood.” Browne, Ray and Pat Brown (Eds.) Digging into Popular Culture: Theories and Methodologies in Archaeology, Anthropology, and Other Fields. Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1991. Page 36. Shackels work uses what he

28、 terms an emulation model of Daniel Millers work which uses historical examples from 16th century England for Shackel to analyze colonial Annapolis, Md. “Miller explains that symbolic use of material goods in a society increasingly oriented to consumption were used by interest groups to reinforce th

29、eir position in the social hierarchy.” Browne, Ray and Pat Brown (Eds.) Digging into Popular Culture: Theories and Methodologies in Archaeology, Anthropology, and Other Fields. Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1991. Page 37. Shackers methods comprise numerous other

30、theorists, including Daniel Miller, Michel Foucault, Michael Shanks, Christopher Tilley, and Ian Hodder, in his work to demonstrate the relation between physical goods themselves and the ways in which commerce and consumerism mold them into objects that exist within a social hierarchy and take on ne

31、w meanings in this capacity; thus coming together to create what Shackel believes to comprise popular culture. As Shackel quotes Michael Shanks and Christopher Tilley as saying, “Goods provide a communicative medium of symbolic significanceand provide a medium for social domination as an expression

32、of power and ideology.” Ibid, 38. These arguments are useful in the context of my research because they provide a method for analysis of cultural products that is applicable to numerous eras of human history. It helps to show the progression of human culture and highlights the assumption that social

33、 interaction and status are in part derived through the meanings attached to certain goods available within society, whatever those goods may be. Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, in their essay, “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception,” put forth additional pertinent theoretical arg

34、uments around which my research may exist and be framed. As is described in the editors introduction to the work, this “essay, published in the mid-1940s, remains the classic denunciation of the culture industrythey believe thatsociety has lost its capacity to nourish true freedom and individualityr

35、esulting from the fact that cultural production has moved from an artisanal stageto an industrial stage.” Adorno, Theodor and Max Horkehimer. “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception.” Incl. in The Cultural Studies Reader. Ed. Simon During. New York and London: Routledge Press, 1993. P

36、age 29. Their theories lament the loss of the sense of the individual, lost to the mass cultural machine that they believe is largely driven by the needs of the capitalist system. As they say, “culture now impresses the same stamp on everythinga technological rationale is the rationale of domination

37、 itself. It is the coercive nature of society alienated from itself.the whole world is made to pass through the filter of the culture industry.” Adorno, Theodor and Max Horkehimer. “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception.” Incl. in The Cultural Studies Reader. Ed. Simon During. New Yo

38、rk and London: Routledge Press, 1993. Pages 30-33. Adorno and Horkheimers work originates from a similar time period to Erich Fromm, mentioned in the first category of literature to follow. Their beliefs are crucial to my topic and work because in several ways, I agree with them that a large amount

39、of individuality has been lost, in part sacrificed on the altar of what can be referred to as culture which Adorno and Horkheimer argue to be primarily composed of standardization and driven to feed the market machine. I think in many ways, this central belief and argument laid out above will serve

40、to underlie and enrich my work as I examine modern society, todays popular culture, and the paradoxical, materially-driven, life of the American Teen.The theories of Marshall McLuhan and Jean Baudrillard, included in the volume Culture and Technology, by Andrew Murphie and John Potts, also will add

41、significantly to the direction and tone of my work. McLuhan, who is best known for his insight into cultural effects of mass media written in the 1960s, as paraphrased by Murphie and Potts, believes that “all technologies are extensions of human capacities” and argues that “the medium is the message

42、. Cultural significance of media lies not in their content, but in the way they alter our perception of the world.” Murphie, Andrew and John Potts. Culture and Technology. New York/Australia: Palgrave MacMillan, 2003. Page 13. His technological determinist stance, and overall belief that technologic

43、al development does influence and drive cultural change and evolution is very much in agreement with my own beliefs and the original arguments I will put forth on these subjects. Baudrillard is often viewed as following on from McLuhans theories. Baudrillard tends to be more negative overall as to t

44、he effects of electronic media on society, where McLuhan has more of a tendency to see the silver lining. Baudrillards famed “theory of simulacra (signs which are copies of other signs)is based on the generative power of media technologies” For Baudrillard, instead of the medium is the message he be

45、lieves that “the medium is the modelfor behaviors, perceptions, knowledge of the world, sense of self, reality itself.” Murphie, Andrew and John Potts. Culture and Technology. New York/Australia: Palgrave MacMillan, 2003. Page 15-16. Both of these influential cultural theorists will prove to be very

46、 useful to my work, because in many ways, the problems and questions my project raises fit somewhere in between these two basic views of the role of technology in the resulting culture of a society, and those within it.FIRST CATEGORY: The first category of literature, that will comprise the first ch

47、apter of my work, centers around the provision of a larger historical approach to the subject of technology and social interaction, concentrating somewhat here on the apparent social disconnection that many individuals, particularly teenagers today, feel despite the ability of particularly online co

48、mmunication modes to bring people closer together. This category of sources is intended to demonstrate the prominent sources related to the development of a historical and cultural context for my work, a backdrop for the resulting research and exploration that is to follow. Erich Fromms work of soci

49、ology and psychology, Escape from Freedom, first published in 1941, is a critical historical underpinning to one side of technological innovation that also feeds into some of the anxiety, fear, and trepidation that many people feel with the introduction of a new technology, as is also described by L

50、ynn Spigel. Fromm examines the situation of modern man in modern times, particularly the interplay between psychological states and sociological ones. His primary attention is to the study of the concept of freedom, but he also performs considerable study and analysis on ideas of social isolationism

51、 and alienation during the 1940s in the aftermath of World War II. His work is valuable to this topic because it is primarily a historical tracing of the character of the modern human and the conventions of society, and the world around us that has led to the aforementioned ideas of isolationism and

52、 disconnection to explain the state of the human condition in a theoretical sense. “It is the thesis of this book that modern man, freed from the bonds of pre-individualistic societyhas not gained freedom in the positive sense of the realization of his individual selfFreedom, though it has brought h

53、im independence and rationality, has made him isolated and thereby, anxious and powerless.” Erich Fromm, Escape from Freedom. New York: Henry Holt & Company, LLC, 1941, 1969. Page x (Foreword). For example, Fromms desciption of the masochistic and sadistic characters, representing the need to br

54、ing harm to others or oneself, respectively, he believes, arise from intense feelings of loneliness and insecurity within their larger social sphere that eventually can actually fuse with an individuals personality. Fromms work will serve as a firm ideological and theoretical base for entering my to

55、pic.Laura Pappanos book, The Connection Gap: Why Americans Feel So Alone, is another source that will aid me in the establishment of a historical and theoretical baseline within which my research and writing will take place. Pappanos work gives excellent background on social alienation, loneliness,

56、and related dilemmas that she argues are plaguing the American public, with particular attention to technologys role in this process. Her work is focused entirely on America as a study group, and one of her primary focuses, as hinted in her Introduction, is “It may seem ironic, when “connection” has

57、 become the buzzword of the moment and anyone at all is immediately reachable from any location, that people are suffering from loneliness. But many of us are.” Pappano, Laura. The Connection Gap: Why Americans Feel So Alone. Rutgers University Press, 2001. Page 7. Her work, thus is a founding one f

58、or the genesis of this topic, and thus belongs in the 1st chapter along with the other sources that will serve as those to form the base from which the topic will progress. Also relating to the above arguments and sentiments, James Benigers book, The Control Revolution: Technological and Economic Or

59、igins of the Information Society, which constitutes a work involving the fields of sociology, social psychology, and behavioral scientific analysis is another essential source from which my topic can gain furthered meaning and depth. Beniger provides a solid conceptual and historical framework within which technology, society, and the changes and shifts brought about by the progression to an information society have been brought abou