Escape from Freedom

Escape from Freedom
Cover of the first edition
AuthorErich Fromm
LanguageEnglish
SubjectSocial psychology
PublisherFarrar & Rinehart
Publication date
1941
Publication placeUnited States
Pages257
ISBN0-7448-0014-5

Escape from Freedom is a book by psychoanalyst Erich Fromm, first published in the United States by Farrar & Rinehart[1] in 1941 with the title Escape from Freedom and a year later as The Fear of Freedom in UK by Routledge & Kegan Paul. It was translated into German and first published in 1952 under the title Die Angst vor der Freiheit (The Fear of Freedom). In the book, Fromm explores humanity's shifting relationship with freedom, how individual freedom can cause fear, anxiety and alienation, and how many people seek relief by relinquishing freedom. He describes how authoritarianism can be a mechanism of escape, with special emphasis on the psychosocial conditions that enabled the rise of Nazism.

  1. ^ Funk, Rainer (2000). Erich Fromm: His Life and Idea. New York: Continuum. pp. 169, 173. ISBN 0-8264-1224-6.