Benign Aggression (Fromm)

Definition

Erich Fromm defines “aggression” broadly: acts damaging or destroying persons, animals, or inanimate objects. But to Fromm, much aggression is simply benign, biologically adaptive, and life-serving. For instance, humans, like animals, make defensive responses to threats. Such benign aggression can cause pain or damage, but it is reactive, not aggressive for its own sake, not rooted in malignant character formation (Fromm 1973, p. 212).

Introduction

Aggression is a major concern for Erich Fromm. A sociologist and practicing psychoanalyst, Fromm (1900–1980) was a key member of the left-leaning Frankfurt School during the 1930s, playing an important role in its study of the “authoritarian personality.” When Hitler came to power in 1933, Fromm and the Frankfurt School moved to the United States, where Fromm became a public intellectual combining a Marxist analysis of social disorder with Freudian psychology, frequently writing on war, peace, and aggression. In his two books that...