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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What do masochists receive from their submissive acts?

2. What practice does Fromm cite evidence that an individual's thoughts could be suggested by someone else?

3. When he first came to power, which social class did Hitler favor?

4. What dual desires did Nazi ideology appeal to?

5. Why did the first group of Germans who supported Hitler submit to the power of the Nazis?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. How does a democratic society put pressure on individuals to conform?

4. What is spontaneous action and original thought?

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

6. What are the consequences for the individual and society when pressure to conform exists?

7. How does social character affect different groups?

8. What is the social function of education?

9. What role does character play in the individual and society?

10. What is the relationship between sadism and masochism? How does the relationship affect authoritarian characters?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare the freedoms individuals possessed under the Catholic Church and those under Protestantism. In your response, be sure to answer the following questions:

1). Which religion provided greater freedom for the individual, and how did it provide that freedom?

2). How were other organized structures like politics and economics affected by each religion?

3). How did each religion appeal to the different social classes?

4). How did social class affect one's freedom?

Essay Topic 2

Compare Fromm and Freud's points of view on human development. In your essay, answer the following questions:

1). How are Freud and Fromm similar in their beliefs of human development?

2). What beliefs are different between these two thinkers?

3). Describe Fromm's analysis of other academics beliefs, including the Marxist historians and "idealists" like Weber.

Essay Topic 3

Describe in great detail Fromm's three "Mechanisms of Escape." Your essay should be divided into three sections:

1). Describe authoritarianism, the authoritarian character, why people submit to authoritarian leaders, and examples from history.

2). Explain Fromm's definition of destructiveness, what causes it, consequences for it, and historical examples.

3). Evaluate the effects of automaton conformity on society and the individual man.

(see the answer keys)

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