I have just finished Eric Fromm’s book ‘The Fear of Freedom’ and noticed some interesting parallels with Brexit.
Fromm suggests that when people feel hopeless and alone, they are able to defer this feeling by exhibiting some sado/masochistic behaviour. They often masochistically give themselves up to a higher power such as a king, god or a nation. At the same time however, they can act sadistically towards perceived objects of weakness.
Lots of people do feel helpless and alone in the alienating capitalist system that we all have to play a part in. Therefore they look to escape. So how does a an alienated Brit escape this feeling? He gives himself up to a higher authority, something he feels has (or maybe had in the case of Brexit) great power and authority.
The nationalist Brexiter gives up his genuine individuality and literal freedoms (such as freedom to move around Europe) in order to feel more secure in themselves. This type of masochism shows its dialectical nature when we see the way the nationalist individual sadistically attacks the so called enemies of the nation, namely Muslims and the EU.
The sadistic individual will attack anybody who they feel is weak compared to their nation, this is how sad-masochistic nationalism works. Muslims seem to bear the brunt of this mechanism. We often hear Muslims described as degenerates, backwards, medieval and many other terms that suggest that are not up to the enlightened British standard. Ironically, they are also presented as quite strong and dangerous by some of the elite media, probably to keep the group together by having a common enemy.
The second subject of sadism is the EU itself. Since the referendum it has been portrayed as a failing project, an economic disaster and many of weak connotations. Detractors often point to states like Greece as evidence of weakness, as well as pointing to former Soviet states as not up to the same standard as ‘great’ Britain. Again though, the EU is also portrayed as a powerful threat, to attempt to create unity in the nation against the EU.
There is no doubt that other psychological factors such as conformation bias and in group biases played a part in Brexit, however the Psychoanalytic perspective should not be overlooked. Fromm wrote extensively on nationalism and would probably have been very interested in the psychoanalytic mechanisms that played a role in the Brexit vote.
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