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The Sane Society Paperback – October 15, 1990

by Erich Fromm (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 202 ratings
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The Sane Society is a continuation and extension of the brilliant psychiatric concepts Erich Fromm first formulated in Escape from Freedom; it is also, in many ways, an answer to Freud's Civilization and its Discontents.

Fromm examines man's escape into overconformity and the danger of robotism in contemporary industrial society: modern humanity has, he maintains, been alienated from the world of their own creation. Here Fromm offers a complete and systematic exploration of his "humanistic psychoanalysis." In so doing, he counters the profound pessimism for our future that Freud expressed and sets forth the goals of a society in which the emphasis is on each person and on the social measures designed to further function as a responsible individual.

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  1. Part of series
    International Library of Sociology
  2. Print length
    384 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publication date
    October 15, 1990
  5. Dimensions
    5.5 x 1 x 8.3 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0805014020
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0805014020
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“A distinguished contribution to a growing body of social psychological reflections on modern times.” ―The Washington Post

“One is fascinated page after page by the incisiveness of the analysis, the concreteness of the presentation, and the beauty of the style.” ―Paul Tillich

“A courageous book with a high moral objective...an unflinching indictment of contemporary society.” ―Guide to Psychiatric and Psychological Literature

About the Author

Erich Fromm was a German-born American psychoanalyst and social philosopher who explored the interaction between psychology and society. His works include The Art of Loving, Escape from Freedom, and The Sane Society. He died in 1980.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Holt Paperbacks; Reissue edition (October 15, 1990)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0805014020
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0805014020
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1 x 8.3 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 202 ratings

About the author

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Erich Fromm

Erich Fromm

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Erich Seligmann Fromm (German: [fʀɔm]; March 23, 1900 – March 18, 1980) was a German social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, humanistic philosopher, and democratic socialist. He was associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory.

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by Arturo Espinosa [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
202 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the book brilliant and powerful. They find the ideas relevant to today and say it is a wonderful guide into the human soul that helps put things into perspective.

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11 customers mention "Readability"11 positive0 negative

Customers find the book easy to read and brilliant. They say it's one of the most important books of the 20th century.

"Sane Society is one of the best books I ever read...." Read more

"Fromm is quite an enlightened psychologist/sociologist. This is a great read on understanding the cultural cancer of alienation as well as is basis..." Read more

"...his classic Escape From Freedom this is one of the most important books of the twentieth century...." Read more

"Erich Fromm is a genius. This is a great book to read before/after 'Escape From Freedom'." Read more

5 customers mention "Relevance"5 positive0 negative

Customers find the book relevant to today. They say the ideas about society are still quite pertinent and show how little we have evolved. The book is a wonderful guide into the human soul and helps explain why there are so many miseries. It really puts things into perspective.

"Still very relevant to today" Read more

"...It is a wonderful guide into the human soul and helps to explain why there are so many misery, injustice and cruelty in the world. I recomend." Read more

"...The ideas about society are still quite pertinent and really show how little we have evolved in the last 60 years...." Read more

"Sorry to sound so cheesy but this book is the best, it really put things into perspective...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

Monadic Reviewer
5.0 out of 5 stars I wish I could read it a decade ago
Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2024
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Still very relevant to today
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Fabiola Queiroz
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book
Reviewed in the United States on August 10, 2013
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Sane Society is one of the best books I ever read. Erich Fromm makes a brilliant analysis of why humans tend to like and support dictatorships and authoritarian governments such as the nazis and fascim. He also talks about why in our current democratic contries, people give up being who they really are to become someone dictated by society in order to cope with loneliness and powerlessness and, meanwhile, firmly believing they are who they really are and are expressing their uniqueness. I pretend reread this book soon and do it many times more in the future. It is a wonderful guide into the human soul and helps to explain why there are so many misery, injustice and cruelty in the world. I recomend.
19 people found this helpful
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helen
4.0 out of 5 stars but I have lived during the times when we were a great country, united and strong and respected around the ...
Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2014
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I think everyone should read Erich Fromm. Over 50 years ago he was laying out what we were to become if we didn't make some changes in our society. We didn't and we are apathetic robots, lied to by our elected officials who care only about money and power and not about the country we live in. We have little pride in our jobs, and as unions weaken, the wages of the workers go down and the wealthy grow rich and powerful. They have bought the people we vote in office, and we sit around and watch sports and do nothing. We have lost our democracy and are now an oligarchy and if we keep on in this direction, we will become a third world country. I'm too old to see it all happen, but I have lived during the times when we were a great country, united and strong and respected around the world. No longer. Too sad. Read the Sane Society, Man For Himself and Escape from Freedom.
13 people found this helpful
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Walter Stanley
5.0 out of 5 stars Society Has Not Yet Benefitted From Fromm's Insights
Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2016
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I read THE SANE SOCIETY when I was 23, and it was possibly the most influential book I ever read. At that time, I had just had the epiphanic realization that society is insane. I have never changed my mind about that, though I've learned to live with it less uncomfortably. I thought that if people just read and paid attention to Erich Fromm we could straighten everything out. I have changed my mind about that, but still think it is an essential first step. The insanity of society does not seem like it should be incurable. It is a mental state rather than an organic defect.

Fromm spends a lot of time elaborating upon alienation of modern man. For most workers, this alienation is caused by the dissociation of their work from the purpose of that work. This is much more true for manual workers than professionals, though both are plagued by this. I became a school teacher because I'd seen how little education has to do with preparing people for life. "When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school, it's a wonder that I can think at all," as Paul Simon sang. Any education which deserves the name should be about teaching people how to think, but that can't be done without threatening people's sense of piety or patriotism. Which are the very things which make people insane.

Fromm states that the messages of Moses, Christ, Muhammad, and Buddha (and perhaps even Marx?) are all essentially the same. This implies that there is an underlying objective Truth in the Universe that everyone should be capable of agreeing upon. That there should be criteria for deciding upon moral truths that all reasonable people could agree upon. If we were not alienated from our "true selves." So the purpose of organized religion is not to help us connect with the core of our being, which was the purpose of the teaching of these men, but to keep us divorced from ourselves. If this was indeed the purpose of our religious founders, (and this was my realization in my epiphanal moment), then it is true that religions are doing the opposite of what their founders had in mind.

On the other hand, I find the argument that Moses and Christ and Buddha had the same message difficult to swallow. Reading about Abraham, Job, Moses, and Samuel and so on was what originally made me hate religion. I see no wisdom, nor even sanity, in their stories. I wish someone could explain how it is possible to disagree with this perception.
82 people found this helpful
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Tony
5.0 out of 5 stars excellent
Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2016
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Can you be sane if you question your own sanity? Can you be sane if you do NOT question your own sanity? Can you be sane in an insane society? Fromm's observations are as valid today as they were on the day he published.
4 people found this helpful
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Tony R.
5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended
Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2017
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Fromm is quite an enlightened psychologist/sociologist. This is a great read on understanding the cultural cancer of alienation as well as is basis saying back from the economic beginnings of capitalism.
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Lawrence Halk
5.0 out of 5 stars Reflections on 21st century ?
Reviewed in Canada on January 16, 2020
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This is one book that many of our present day politicians should read and then reflect on the studies of Dr. Fromm. Will the past repeat itself?
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Richard
5.0 out of 5 stars Wise and Important
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 26, 2013
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I originally read this book several years ago after my flatmates rescued a tattered 1970s edition from a wheelie bin in Edinburgh. From the opening paragraphs it gripped me almost like a novel and I am so pleased there is now an edition on Kindle so that I can take it with me everywhere.

The text itself is a classic. In it Fromm explains several ways in which modern, western society operates in a fashion that could be legitimately claimed to be 'insane' (and even, on occasion, 'pathological'). Despite the apparent strength of this claim, this is not, fortunately, another flaming tirade about the corruption and ills of modern society, but rather a careful and considered analysis from a leading psychoanalyst of his day. It is also notable for being one of the rare instances where such a book dares to propose solutions as well as simply identifying problems.

Fromm's style of writing is also praiseworthy. For the general reader this is most definitely an academic book filled with challenging concepts and ideas, but Fromm (most of the time) manages to engage the reader without ever slipping into the light and familiar tone of so many pop-psychology books published today. He treats the reader as neither an expert nor an idiot, but as what his book tells us man should be: a thoughtful and curious creature, engaged with his world and surroundings.
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Canadian Finds For You
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in Canada on August 23, 2016
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Good condition, yellowed pages but no tears or markings. The book itself is definitely worth a read!
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Ms. R. I. Brewer
5.0 out of 5 stars brilliant and though provoking.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 11, 2014
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I have been a fan of Erich Fromm almost since I could read. He writes in a clear easy to follow style but leads you to understand complex relationships and social connections and how they impact on individual feelings of self worth.
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Reader
4.0 out of 5 stars Good book - provides insights into evolution of man and society
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 26, 2017
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The writer takes you through the evolution of man and his character. The writer also discusses various political systems and there impact on man and vice versa. I liked most of what i read as it helps to understand the reasons of why man acts the way he does. What is fascinating is that lot of points are relevant even today. The book is a good read for someone interested in learning about the growth of man esp in 19th and 20th century and the society along with him.
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