Marx concept of man erich fromm biography

1961 book by Erich Fromm

Marx's Concept of Man is a 1961 book about Karl Marx's theory of human nature by the psychoanalyst Erich Fromm.

The work sold widely thanks to the popularity of Marx's early writings, which was a product of the existentialism of the 1940s.

Summary

In Marx's Concept of Man, Erich Fromm provides a detailed analysis of Karl Marx's ideas about human nature and how those ideas informed his economic and political theories.

Fromm shows how Marx's conception of man as a "species-being" who is fundamentally social and cooperative, rather than selfish and individualistic, shaped his vision of a society based on economic justice and equality. Fromm also critiques Marx's idea that religion is the "opiate of the people," arguing that it is actually an expression of man's alienation from himself and from others.

Fromm concludes that Marx's greatest co