Perspective

Fromm is a German writer of Jewish heritage who has left Germany because the Nazi Party has come to power. His assessment of the German social character, which is central to his argument, comes from a personal perspective of someone who was raised and educated in Germany. Likewise, he has a personal perspective on the rise of the Nazi Party which he witnesses before leaving the country. Writing in 1941, before the United States has entered the fighting in Europe, Fromm has seen Hitler's success but does not yet know the outcome of his aggressive campaign to conquer Europe.

Fromm is also a practicing psychoanalyst, and his political theories about social character are based on his perspective of human development. He argues that societies develop a character in the same way that individuals do and that they can be analyzed in much the same way. Fromm departs from Sigmund...