View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is an authoritarian character?
(a) A person who does not respect authority.
(b) A person who submits to authority but does not hold it over others.
(c) A person who seeks authority over others.
(d) A person who submits to authority and wants to exercise authority over others.

2. What psychological idea is destructiveness related to?
(a) Neurosis.
(b) Amnesia.
(c) Sadism.
(d) Psychosis.

3. What kind of acts are "phenomena of abundance"?
(a) Malicious acts.
(b) Acts of individuality.
(c) Calculated acts.
(d) Free or spontaneous acts.

4. Prior to World War I, who was the lower, middle class obedient to?
(a) President of the United States.
(b) German monarchy.
(c) German chancellor.
(d) They were not obedient to anyone yet.

5. What was the ultimate goal of the Nazi party?
(a) Gain power.
(b) Gain freedom.
(c) Give up power.
(d) Strengthen German society for everyone.

Short Answer Questions

1. What happened to Germany's economic stability following World War I?

2. What social structure does Fromm suggest should be part of the psychological aspect of society?

3. What does Fromm say even a democratic society can pressure individuals to do?

4. What historian believed that religion drives the social process?

5. What happens when the political restraints that an individual has come to rely on are removed?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is authority, as defined in the chapter "Mechanisms of Escape"?

2. What role does the family have in developing the character structure of an individual?

3. What two false theories does Fromm discount that accounted for the rise of Nazism?

4. What are the similarities and differences between sadism and destructiveness?

5. How does social character affect different groups?

6. How does formal education limit a child's freedom?

7. How does Fromm describe sadistic people?

8. What characteristics describe the first group of Germans who supported the Nazis?

9. Why was Nazism so appealing to the lower middle class of Germans?

10. What is automaton conformity?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,257 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample