Abstract: . . .  specifically determining productiveness and productive orientation is the use of psychoanalytic concepts to discover which fate the productive powers of growth suffer with which type of nonproductive so- cial character orientation. In the case of the authoritarian character orientation we can say that the authority will lead the human being to project the individual pow- ers that make autonomy and independence possible onto the authority, to make this strong and determining, the individual, however, submissive, dependent, and weak. Here productiveness and the strengthening of the productive orientation mean, against a dominant authoritarian social character orientation, encouraging the individual human being and shaping his or her circumstances in such a way that his or her own will, strength, striving for independence and autonomy, and capacity for disobedience are strengthened in order to cancel the projection of his or her own powers onto the authority. To do the same with an I-am-me oriented person would be senseless, and would probably even lead to a reinforcement of this mindset. What productiveness means concretely depends on the type of nonproductiveness preponderant in a society. What, then, do productiveness and strengthening of the productive orienta- tion mean for the social character orientation that is I-am-me directed and becom- ing all the more dominant? My reflections on psychodynamics and on the psy- choanalysis of the I-am-me orientation suggest the following summary. The general goal is always to counter the I-am-me orientation assisted by „made“ ability with an experience of the ego assisted by human ability and to recognize and gradually reduce the dependency on „made“ ability. This does not require the rejection of „fabricated“ or „made“ ability but its implementation for the preserva- tion and multiplication—and not the replacement—of human ability. Whoever fights against „made“ ability (and for that reason never watches television or uses a personal computer) is still concerned with „made“ ability, comparable to the 8 For a thorough discussion of this problem see R. Funk, „Was heißt 'productive Orientierung' bei Erich Fromm?“ in Fromm Forum (German edition), Tuebingen (privately published) 7(2003), pp.14- 27. 9 See R. Funk, Ich und Wir , pp. 221-225. Page 15 15 priest who condemns sex in movies in order to allow a preoccupation with sexual fantasies. The goal is thus to be able to deal with „made“ ability in such a way that the human being does not experience himself or herself as powerless when- ever it is unavailable. To achieve this goal a number of painful steps toward the strengthening of the productive orientation are imperative. To strengthen the productive . . .
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