| Social Character |
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While the Individual Character is describing the unmistakable richness of the character structure of an individual, the social character is corresponding with the socially significant central structure of the character common to the people in a social class or society. The social character is acquired substantially in the Family as an ''agency of the society'' but also developed in other institutions of society such as schools and worplaces. The function of the social character is to induce the people to accomplish the expected social tasks with the feeling of freedom concerning work and interaction, education and consuming. Arising in the interaction of the socio-economic Social Structure and the ''social libidinous structure'' the social character makes it possible to use the human energies as a social productive resource. Transformations of the social character go in the direction of increasing flexibilization and multioptionality but also restricted relationship ability. Furthermore there can be found new characterological shapings like regressive, consumer-materialistic, hedonistic, experimentalistic, post-materialistic and productive orientations which suggest a milieuspecific differentiation in the development of the social character. Erich Fromm emphasizes the social necessities, which must be obeyed by the members of a society. So that a society functions adequately, their members must acquire a character structure which enables to do what they must do. It is for example expected in an authoritarianly structured society that the people are highly motivated and eagerly to invest their time and energy into work, to subordinate themselves to a hierarchy and fulfill selflessly the instructions brought to them. In the permissive Consumer Culture however a character and an activity structure are necessary, which induce people to consume gladly and extensively. Thus the character structure of everybody is formed in such a way that he can fulfill expectations addressed to him quasi voluntarily. Everyone develops Character Trait s and Character Orientation s that distinguish him from people who live in other societies. As a theorist of the society Fromm is not interested in the peculiarities by which the individual persons distinguish themselves from each other but he asks what is common to most people in their psychological reactions. So he examines the part of the character structure which is shared by most members of a society. Fromm describes this generell core in the character as ''social character''. The figuration of the social character takes place in most societies at cost of the spontaneity and freedom of the individuals. LITERATURE Erich Fromm (1942): Character and Social Process. An Appendix to Fear of Freedom, Routledge. Whole article reproduced at: http://marxists.org/archive/fromm/works/1942/character.htm EXTERNAL LINKS |
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