Robots
The central symbol for the author’s conception of modern man is the robot. Humans are no longer herded into behavior by others through force as slaves, but rather coerced into conformity which deprives them of identity and existential meaning.
Nationalism
Nationalism (and to a less intense but no less overpowering degree patriotism) becomes a symbol of the replacement of the church and religion as the single greatest unifying force in Western culture and, paradoxically, the single greatest threat to that unity. As the center of power shifted from the Vatican to individual monarchs, people began to associate their sense of identity with their country and when simple-minded patriotism explodes into mindless nationalism, bad things always result. It is conformity rising to its most dangerous level.
Park Forest
Park Forest was an experimental planned housing development in Chicago designed for upwardly mobile members of the city’s vast scientific community associated with its academic institutions. If nationalism is a symbol for conformity at its most extreme, then Park Forest shows how insidious it can be no a more modest level as original inhabitants demonstrated a remarkable ability to conform to expectations to the extent of routinely referring to anyone who lived elsewhere as “outsiders” and “others.”
The Insane Asylum
Fromm commences his examination of the sane society by daring to ask the reader to consider whether modern society actually is sane at all. He underscores this potentially terrifying act of self-examination through symbolism by reminding us even the most insane inmate institutionalized within an asylum is perfectly capable of believing his the only true voice of rationality within the entire building. Important to note, however, is not he does not extend this symbol beyond reason to suggest that the modern world is an asylum being run entirely by inmates.
“The Country of the Blind”
A short story by H.G. Wells is co-opted by Fromm to become a symbol for the manner in which insanity may be mistaken for sanity and vice versa. In the story, a man with sight stumbles upon a village with a long history of producing only sightless people. In a community in which literally no member has ever actually seen anything, the stranger’s tales of eyes and vision eventually come to be identified as the deranged ravings a lunatic. The symbolism is obvious, but strong: when sanity is defined by society based only on what they believe to be true, what is universally accepted as healthy might in fact be detrimental. And vice versa.
