“Although there are certain needs, such as hunger, thirst, sex, which are common to man, those drives which make for the differences in men's characters, like love and hatred, the lust for power and the yearning for submission, the enjoyment of sensuous pleasure and the fear of it, are all products of the social process. The most beautiful as well as the most ugly inclinations of man are not part of a fixed and biologically given human nature, but result from the social process which creates man. In other words, society has not only a suppressing function - although it has that too - but it has also a creative function.”

German-American social psychologist and psychoanalyst

Erich Seligmann Fromm was a German-American social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, humanistic philosopher, and democratic socialist. Born in Germany, he later settled in the United States after fleeing the Nazi regime. He is known for his work at the intersection of psychology, philosophy, and social thought. Fromm was one of the founders of the William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis and Psychology in New York City. He was also associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory. His writing and thought often concerned human freedom, society, and the conditions of a more humane way of life.