Erich Fromm Society of North America, Inc.
Our Vision, Fromm's Legacy
Our Purpose
The Erich Fromm Society of North America (EFSNA) is dedicated to preserving and advancing the profound insights of Erich Fromm. By engaging in research and fostering scholarly discourse, we honor his legacy while encouraging the application of his ideas across diverse fields such as psychology, philosophy, and sociology.
Through our initiatives, we aim to connect like-minded scholars and promote continued exploration of Frommian research within the broader academic community.
Who is Erich Fromm?
Sociologist, Psychoanalyst, Humanist
Erich Fromm (1900 - 1980) was a German-Jewish scholar, clinician, and activist.
Fromm moved to North America in 1934, settling first in New York City, where he taught at Columbia University and co-founded the William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis & Psychology. About fifteen years later, Fromm relocated to Mexico City, where he taught at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and co-founded the Mexican Institute of Psychoanalysis.
Fromm received his PhD in sociology from the University of Heidelberg and completed psychoanalytic training at the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute. His books—including the bestsellers Escape from Freedom, The Sane Society, and The Art of Loving—have sold over 50 million copies worldwide.
Fromm co-founded the National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy (SANE), which later became Peace Action. He also co-founded and for its first twenty years served as the principal funder of Amnesty International.
Fromm was a fierce advocate for socialist humanism, which embraces a strong belief in the unity of the human race and in the potential for human beings to perfect themselves through their own efforts—including especially by radically changing their political and economic systems.
Fromm's scholarly work elaborates a uniquely potent Freudo-Marxian synthesis that combines attentiveness to the dialectics of macro- and micro-level social processes with attunement to the dynamics of interpersonal and intrapsychic phenomena. As such, Fromm offers an insightful and exquisitely humane approach to philosophizing about the challenges of individual and collective life today.
Courtesy of the publisher, read more about Fromm's life in this excerpt from Erich Fromm: A Contemporary Introduction by Sandra Buechler.
Advancing Erich Fromm's Ideals
Our mission at the Erich Fromm Society of North America (EFSNA) is to preserve and develop Erich Fromm's scholarly findings, ensuring they resonate with both contemporary issues and future generations. We promote excellence in research and knowledge sharing across various disciplines.
We actively support organizations that align with our vision, creating a space for collaborative growth and exchange of ideas which further enrich the understanding of Fromm’s work.
We maintain special relationships with the International Erich Fromm Society, the Erich Fromm Institute Tübingen, and the Erich Fromm Study Center of the International Psychoanalytic University Berlin.
Team
Our dedicated Board of Directors is committed to furthering the legacy of Erich Fromm through rigorous research, outreach, and educational initiatives.
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Dr. Rory Varrato
President and Executive Director
Rory Varrato, PhD, holds a doctorate in Philosophy and Education from Columbia University. Rory is currently an Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at Fordham University, and he is a Psychoanalytic Candidate in the Licensure-Qualifying Program at the William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis & Psychology. Rory co-founded and served as the first spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion NYC, where he was also President of the group's 501(c)(3) non-profit organization (EIN: 83-4256856; DOS ID: 5517312). Rory is the recent recipient of a Beginning Scholar Research Grant from the Fund for Psychoanalytic Research through the American Psychoanalytic Association. Together with Jeremiah Morelock, PhD, Rory is preparing an edited volume, The Frommian Mind, for publication in Routledge's Philosophical Minds book series.
Dr. Neil McLaughlin
Vice President
Neil McLaughlin, PhD, is Full Professor in the Department of Sociology at McMaster University. His research focuses on the sociology of public intellectuals, the sociology of reputations, the international spreading of conspiracy theories and the sociological dynamics of disciplines, universities and ideas. He is currently working on the political correctness debates and the Jordan Peterson controversy. He has studied the rise and goal of the reputation of critical theorist Erich Fromm, the radical writings of Noam Chomsky, the philanthropy of George Soros, the public intellectual debate in Canada the missing women Canadian public intellectuals, the crisis and renewal of Canadian sociology, the writings of Edward Said, David Riesman and George Orwell.
Dr. Mauricio Cortina
Secretary/Treasurer
Mauricio Cortina, MD, is a psychiatrist and psychotherapist with more than 35 years of experience in the Washington DC area. His style of working is based on empathic understanding and careful listening, and he blends psychodynamic, cognitive and emotional self-regulating techniques in his clinical work. Mauricio is recognized as a leading figure in attachment theory, having received the 2019 Bowlby Ainsworth Award. He has written many chapters and books on attachment and human evolution and is the author and editor of four books. Mauricio is also a member of the Seminario de Sociopsicoanálisis A.C. (SEMSOAC), which is heavily influenced by Frommian ideas.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
The Executive Committee, which includes the Board members, represents EFSNA's full leadership team.
Dr. Rory Varrato
Dr. Neil McLaughlin
Dr. Mauricio Cortina
Dr. Ilene Philipson
Ilene Philipson, PhD, holds doctorates in sociology, clinical psychology, and psychoanalysis. She is a training and supervising analyst at the Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis in Los Angeles, a faculty member at the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis, and is in the private practice of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis in Oakland, California. In addition to On The Shoulders of Women: The Feminization of Psychotherapy (Guilford), her books include Married to The Job (Simon & Schuster); Ethel Rosenberg: Beyond the Myths (Rutgers University Press); and Women, Class, and the Feminist Imagination (ed) (Temple University Press).
Lacey Delayne Hunt
Lacey Delayne Hunt is an advocate for humanistic values and rethinking the way we do life. She wants to see a society that better accommodates our human needs.