Class-society power structures keep subjects in an infantile dependence stance toward rulers

Evidence

Fromm’s central idea, which gave a class-theoretical edge to Freud, was that the power structure of class societies reproduces the infantile situation for those who are subjected to it. They experience their rulers as the powerful, the strong and the respected. Rebelling against them seems to be pointless, and seeking their protection and goodwill through love and submission appears to be rational. The idea of God demands a willingness, even from adults, to submit to father-figures and to view rulers in a transfiguring light. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 221 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

But social helplessness, fear and the necessity of suppressing instinctual drives are naturally greater among the lower classes than among those who have control of the means of power in society'. The chances of achieving self-confidence and ego-strength through family socialization are therefore at their smallest among the lower classes, and, by corollary, the chances are all the greater that they will fall into situations similar to that of the helpless childor, at least, that they will react like children if someone is capable of giving them the impression that they are in such a situation. — <cite>Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 610</cite> (#expands`, via linked claim)

The white family is the agent of a certain system. The society is indeed the sum of all the families in it. The family is an institution that prefigures a broader institution: the social or the national group. Both turn on the same axes. The white family is the workshop in which one is shaped and trained for life in society. “The family structure is internalized in the superego,” Marcus says, “and projected into political [though I would say social] behavior.” — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 574 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Class power structures reproduce the infantile situation, making submission to rulers appear rational. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 221; Family structure is internalized into the superego and projected into political behavior — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 574; Lower classes are most vulnerable to authority because socialization denies them ego-strength — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 610 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Class power structures reproduce the infantile situation, making submission to rulers appear rational. #corroborates (0.95) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 221
• Lower classes are most vulnerable to authority because socialization denies them ego-strength #expands (0.82) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 610
• Family structure is internalized into the superego and projected into political behavior #expands (0.75) — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 574