Punishment and the Unconscious: On Erich Fromm's Thinking on Criminality

ABSTRACT This article examines Erich Fromm's thoughts on criminal punishment through four articles he published between 1930 and 1931, inspired by the German psychoanalytic criminological movement of the early twentieth century. It argues that these writings should not be regarded as marginal to Fromm's oeuvre. When situated in their historical context, they appear important for understanding the genesis of the author's intellectual project. The article shows that Fromm's interest in punishment can be traced back to the earliest phase of his work and finds its first systematic expression in these articles of the early 1930s. It further argues that his analysis of the relationship between punishment and social domination offers an original interpretation of criminality. This originality stems from the fact that Fromm's reflections on punishment are intertwined with the theoretical concerns of the early Frankfurt School, of which he was a prominent member.