Abstract

A cornerstone of Erich Fromm’s thinking is his insistence on the relationship between the psyche and the political. For Fromm, it is not sufficient to simply accept political strivings as they are articulated, but rather to uncover the deeper psychological motivations that undergird them. In this chapter, I follow Fromm’s approach in examining the psychological character of the current racial justice movement as it exists in North America. This movement, which gained considerable traction in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of the police on May 25, 2020, is part of a wider constellation of social agitations that fall under the umbrella of “identity politics.” Critics on the Right as well as some on the Left who prioritize class struggle, have derided identity-based movements for their excessive emotionalism; tendency towards ressentiment vs. productive solutions; and focus on short-term liberal aims rather than wider emancipatory realizations. Using a psycho-social approach, I examine some of the unspoken forces that lie beneath the current racial justice movement, considering the role that collective racial trauma plays in both inspiring and limiting the movement.