Foucault & Fromm: Social Change

Social Change According to Foucault and Fromm

For many years before Michel Foucault and Erich Fromm put forward their respective theories on social analysis , Karl Marx 's concepts on the contradiction between social classes based on the relations of production were dominant in providing theoretical and practical guidance of forces promoting social change . As a result , revolutions were waged by the forces of social change , which later on gave birth to the world 's biggest socialist countries , the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the People 's Republic of China . Other countries

in Eastern Europe , Asia and Latin America followed suit , with leading revolutionary organizations also espousing basic Marxist doctrines . Due to the successes achieved by such revolutions , many sociologists and academics began accepting the correctness of Marxism and socialism as an alternative social system to capitalism . However , even before the 1950 's , major weaknesses in the socialist systems as practiced by the Soviet Union and China began to emerge . Such weaknesses led sociologists to reconsider their admiration of Marxism without necessarily compromising their stand for social change

Erich Fromm , who belonged to the Frankfurt School which advocated the adaptation of Marxism to the realities of the 20th century , observed the excesses of the Soviet Union under Stalin and became critical of the model of social change advocated by the Soviets as well as radical socialist revolutionaries . Michel Foucault , on the other hand , who was a member of the French Communist Party , became disillusioned with the party 's continuing support...