Quotes About Society

Analyse those dynamic factors in the character structure of modern man, which made him want to give up freedom in fascist countries and which so widely prevail in millions of our own people.

I have stressed the psychological side of freedom, but I have also tried to show that the psychological problem cannot be separated from the material basis of human existence, from the economic, social, and political structure of society.

the vast majority of people have a feeling that there is almost nothing in which they can really, concretely and not abstractly influence and participate in the affairs of society.

In una civiltà in cui prevalgono gli orientamenti commerciali e in cui il successo materiale è il valore predominante, c'è poco da sorprendersi se i rapporti d'amore seguono lo stesso modello di scambio che regola la vita pratica.

The starting point for these reflections is the statement that the character structure of the average individual and the socioeconomic structure of the society of which he or she is a part are interdependent.

It is one of the most characteristic and destructive developments of our own society that man, becoming more and more of an instrument, transforms reality more and more into something relative to his own interests and functions.

La maggior parte della gente non si rende nemmeno conto del proprio bisogno di conformismo. Vive nell'illusione di seguire le proprie idee ed inclinazioni, di essere individualista, di aver raggiunto da sé le proprie convinzioni; e si dà il fatto che le sue idee siano le stesse della maggioranza.

Modern political democracy, if it restricts itself to the purely political sphere, cannot sufficiently counteract the results of the economic insignificance of the average individual. But purely economic concepts like socialization

All three negative utopias make it appear that it is possible to dehumanize man completely, and yet for life to go on.

Only if man masters society and subordinates the economic machine to the purposes of human happiness and only if he actively participates in the social process, can he overcome what now drives him into despair—his aloneness and his feeling of powerlessness. Man does not suffer so much from poverty today as he suffers from the fact that he has become a cog in a large machine, an automaton, that his life has become empty and lost its meaning.

As a matter of fact, in watching the phenomenon of human decisions, one is struck by the extent to which people are mistaken in taking as "their" decision what in effect is submission to convention, duty, or simple pressure. It almost seems that "original" decision is a comparatively rare phenomenon in a society which supposedly makes individual decision

Consumir es una forma de tener, y quizá la más importante en las ricas sociedades actuales. Consumir tiene cualidades ambiguas, alivia la angustia, porque lo que tiene el individuo no se lo puede quitar, pero también requiere consumir más, por que el consumo previo pierde su carácter satisfactorio. Los consumidores modernos pueden identificarse con la formula siguente: yo soy == lo que tengo y lo que consumo.

Whether or not the individual is healthy, is primarily not an individual matter, but depends on the structure of his society. A healthy society furthers man's capacity to love his fellow men, to work creatively, to develop his reason and objectivity, to have a sense of self which is based on the experience of his own productive powers.

El conocimiento empieza con la conciencia del engaño de lo que perciben nuestros sentidos en el sentido de que la mayoría de la gente esta semidespierta, semidormida, y no advierte que la mayor parte de lo que cree verdadero y evidente es una ilusión producida por la influencia sugestiva del mundo social donde vive. Así pues, el conocimiento empieza con la destrucción de las ilusiones, con la desilusión.

Sex no longer frightens people; it can no longer be used to develop a sense of guilt, and thereby to force submission.

We have become automatons who live under the illusion of being self-willing individuals.

The loss of the self has increased the necessity to conform, for it results in a profound doubt of one's own identity.

It is not enough that men are not slaves; if social conditions further the existence of automatons, the result will not be love of life, but love of death.

Az ember biológiai gyengesége alkotja az emberi kultúra alapját.

This loss of identity then makes it still more imperative to conform; it means that one can be sure of oneself only if one lives up to the expectations of others.

Modern man is starved for life.

The person who gives up his individual self and becomes an automaton, identical with millions of other automatons around him, need not feel alone and anxious any more. But the price he pays, however, is high; it is the loss of his self.

The idea of the responsible and well informed citizen who participates in the important decisions of the community is the central concept of democracy. But due to the quantitative increase in population and to the influence of methods of mass suggestion, the substance of democracy is weakening.

the meaning of freedom can be fully understood only on the basis of an analysis of the whole character structure of modern man.