ABSTRACT
Erich Fromm (1900-80) was a psychoanalyst and social psychologist associated with the Frankfurt School of social theory and often credited with forging key links between Marxist and Freudian thought. Born to Orthodox Jewish parents, Fromm briefly studied law and jurisprudence at the University of Frankfurt am Main and then, at Heidelberg, sociology under Max Weber’s brother Alfred (1868-1958), psychology under Karl Jaspers (1883-1969) and philosophy under Heinrich Rickert (1863-1936). After earning his Ph.D. in sociology from Heidelberg in 1922, Fromm went on-under the influence of Frieda Reichmann, whom he later married-to train as a psychoanalyst and to begin his own clinical practice. At this time he was also appointed by Max Horkheimer (1895-1973), as chief psychological expert of the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research (the so-called “Frankfurt School”).1
