Erich Fromm's Critical Theory - by Kieran Durkin & Joan Braune (Paperback)

About the Book

Originally published in hardcover in 2020 by Bloomsbury Academic.

Book Synopsis

Interest in Fromm is increasing: as a prominent Marxist, sociologist, psychoanalytic theorist, and public intellectual, the unique normative-humanist thrust of his writings provides a crucial critical reference point for those seeking to understand and transcend the societal pathologies of our age.

The essays in this volume retrieve, revive, and expand upon Fromm's central insights and contributions. They offer a critical theory of culture, the self, psychology and society that goes beyond what is typical of the narrower concerns of the fragmented and isolated disciplines of today, demonstrating the pan-disciplinary potential of Fromm's work. But this book does not simply reassert Fromm's ideas and rehash his theories, but rather reconstructs them to bring them into meaningful dialogue with contemporary ideas and cultural, political and economic developments.

Providing new approaches to Fromm's ideas and work brings them up-to-date with contemporary problems and debates in theory and society and helps us understand the challenges of our times.

Review Quotes

[T]he reading experience resembles that of looking at a mosaic: it provides us with a particular selection of themes in Fromm's works, which - without claiming to be exhaustive in any way - gradually composes a larger picture from the smaller juxtaposed segments.
Thesis Eleven

An exceptional collection of essays which succeed in demonstrating the power of Fromm's scholarship and the relevance of his conceptual apparatus for furthering contemporary social research. This volume is an indispensable contribution to the booming Fromm renaissance.
European Journal of Social Theory

What is perhaps most valuable about Ansell-Pearson's latest book on Nietzsche, however, is that it squarely focuses on matters that, though they are only now beginning to receive the attention they deserve in Anglophone commentarial circles, are of tremendous importance for the study of Nietzsche ... Ansell-Pearson's book provides generous resources for the still untimely self-overcoming of the genre in which it is nested.
Journal of the History of Philosophy

About the Author

Joan Braune is Lecturer in Philosophy at Gonzaga University, USA. She is author of Erich Fromm's Revolutionary Hope: Prophetic Messianism as a Critical Theory of the Future (2014).

Kieran Durkin is Lecturer in Social and Political Theory at the University of York. He is author of The Radical Humanism of Erich Fromm (2014) which was shortlisted for the Philip Abrams Memorial Award.