About this item
"Human history began with an act of disobedience, and it is not unlikely that it will be terminated by an act of obedience." - from On DisobedienceIn On Disobedience, Erich Fromm writes that the authoritarian dictatorships of the 20th century produced an "organization man" to follow directives blindly, no matter how abhorrent. At the same time, a kind of conformity has arisen in western democracies, only brought about by more subtle means of massive consumerism. In democracies, where the power to implement irreversible destruction rests in the hands of the few, the individual also needs to retain his ability to dissent and to speak "no" to those in power.In the face of these conformist pressures in whichever form they take, modern man must seek an authentic expression in order to retain his deepest sense of self.
About the Author
Erich Seligmann Fromm (German: [f??m]; March 23, 1900 - March 18, 1980) was a German social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, humanistic philosopher, and democratic socialist. He was associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory.
Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by Arturo Espinosa [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) ], via Wikimedia Commons.
