Thinking with Erich Fromm Today

Inaugural Conference

of the Erich Fromm Society of North America

Gonzaga University

September 14-15, 2024

We are delighted to announce the Erich Fromm Society of North America’s inaugural Conference. This two-day conference will be hosted at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. The conference will follow a hybrid format, with both virtual and in-person presentations.

To view the conference program, click here.

Fromm was an original and interdisciplinary thinker who drew on many influences, including psychology, philosophy, sociology, theology, and his own clinical experience as a psychoanalyst. While a sophisticated social theorist, he wrote in an accessible voice to the lay public, formulating responses to pressing social and political problems as a cultural critic and public intellectual. Like his erstwhile colleagues at the Frankfurt School, he emigrated from Germany to the United States in the 1930s with a concern for elucidating and addressing the root causes of fascism. Over the course of his long career, he vigorously opposed war, nuclear arms, capitalism, imperialism, and racism. Fusing the ideas of Marx and Freud, he demonstrated that individual psychology is bound up with social patterns and processes in his concept of social character. His approach was humanistic, existential, psychoanalytic, and sociological. Through his writings and his activism Fromm sought a pathway to a less alienated society conducive to human flourishing, which he called socialist humanism. How can Fromm’s ideas help us respond to current social and political problems and crises? The theme for this inaugural conference will be “Thinking with Erich Fromm Today”.  We invite a wide range of perspectives on Fromm’s relevance to today, welcoming theological, psychoanalytic, philosophical, sociological, anthropological, activist, and other approaches. Possible topics include, but are not limited  to the following areas:

1) Critical theory: Does Fromm’s approach to critical theory stand out and differ from that of his former Frankfurt School colleagues? Are the differences between Fromm and the Frankfurt School reconcilable?

2) Psychoanalysis and psychotherapy: What are Fromm’s contributions to the study of personality theory and clinical method and practice? How do Fromm’s ideas relate to other traditions, such as relational psychoanalysis and humanistic and existential psychotherapy? What can Fromm teach us about the purpose of psychotherapy?

3) Authority: What is the role of rational, irrational, and anonymous

authority in Fromm’s thought? How do these various modes of authority interact with other types of authority in society (i.e., the family, religion, government, the workplace, consumerism, science)?

4) Neofascism and prejudice: How can Fromm’s ideas be used to make sense of and combat contemporary fascist movements and ideologies, the authoritarian character, authoritarian leadership, and group psychology?

5) Religion: How does Fromm’s thought illuminate the areas of utopian hope, prophetic messianism, and interreligious dialogue?

6) 21st century socialism: What is Fromm’s relationship to Marxism? What is the relevance of his ideas to contemporary socialist thought?

7) Human nature: What is Fromm’s conception of human nature and existential needs? How does it inform his radical humanism?

8) Critical pedagogy: What can Fromm teach us about engaging education in an emancipatory way? Can it help shed light on and augment Paulo Freire’s work?

9) Fromm’s method: What does Fromm’s approach contribute for contemporary sociological methods?

Suggested additional themes:

Neoliberal capitalism and social inequality

Academic disciplines

Humanistic ethics

Activism

Feminism and gender theory

Social media

Social character

Environmentalism

Mindfulness

Participants should expect to present for 20 minutes. Presentations will be followed by a discussion period. Participants will be provided with further information about registration, travel, and accommodations shortly after the notification of acceptance.