Social Character in a Mexican Village [Paperback]

Erich Fromm (Author), Michael Maccoby (Author, Introduction)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1560008768 | ISBN-13: 978-1560008767 | Publication Date: January 1, 1996

After the completion of the revolution in 1920, Mexico quickly became an increasingly industrialied country. The vast changes that occurred in the first fifty years after the revolution inspired Erich Fromm and Michael Maccoby to find out how the Mexican people were adapting. The result, Social Character in a Mexican Village, provides a new approach to the analysis of social phenomena. The authors applied Fromm's theories of psychoanalysis to the study of groups. They devised an ingenious method of questionnaires, which, combined with direct observation, clearly revealed the psychic forces that motivated the peasant population. In his new introduction, Michael Maccoby thoroughly explains the basis of the study, how it originated, and how it was carried out. He goes on to delineate the results and determine their impact on the present day. Social Character in a Mexican Village throws new light on one of the world's most pressing problems, the impact of the industrialied world on the traditional character of the peasant. This ground-breaking work will be invaluable to the work of sociologists, anthropologists, and psychoanalysts.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Social Character in a Mexican Village is notable both for methodology and theory. The first serious attempt to combine intensive psychological and psychoanalytic research techniques with detailed anthropological observations, it gives insights into peasant life going far beyond more traditional studies."

—George M. Foster, University of California, Berkeley "Fromm and Maccoby have written a study of crucial importance. They have documented the destructiveness to a Mexican village of this developmental concept. They have presented this evidence in the framework of a seminal theory of social character. And they have pointed the way to a more human type of development."

—Richard J. Barnet, Co-Director, Institute for Policy Studies  

About the Author

Erich Fromm until his death in 1980, was professor at Michigan State University; and adjunct professor of psychology at New York University from 1955 to 1968. He also served as head of the Department of Psychoanalysis at the Medical School of the National University of Mexico. His many works include The Art of Loving, Man for Himself, Escape from Freedom, The Heart of Man, and The Revolution of Hope.

Michael Maccoby has taught at the College of the University of Chicago, the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and the University of California, Santa Cru. From 1978 to 1990 he directed the Program on Technology, Public Policy and Human Development at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He now directs the Project on Technology, Work and Character in Washington, D.C. He is author of The Gamesman, The Leader, and Why Work?

Product Details

• Paperback: 303 pages
• Publisher: Transaction Publishers (January 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560008768
• ISBN-13: 978-1560008767
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,713,740 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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