Zdravo društvo

In the middle of the last century, the philosopher, psychologist and psychoanalyst Erich Fromm, in his book A healthy society, asked a somewhat unusual question for that time: is modern society mentally healthy? Can society be sick at all? The question is based on data on the increasing number of mental illnesses of people in developed societies, the increasing number of those who indulge in alcohol and other addictions, suffer from anxiety and depression, and the increasing number of suicides. Comparative data showed that this problem is more present in richer and more developed societies than in poorer ones. Despite this, there was a belief that these were only isolated cases and that the cause was in man himself, in the individual's inability to cope with social demands and norms, because every society is healthy if it functions. In addition, one would expect that after the Second World War, humanity learned a lesson: never again such a terrible war, never again senseless killing and destruction of the fundamental values of civilization. But it was the time of the beginning of the cold war, the arms race, the fear of nuclear war and the destruction of humanity. At the same time, scientists were already warning about climate change and the devastating impact of man on nature. ​