The acclaimed social psychologist and New York Times–bestselling author of The Art of Loving examines what drives human beings.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Sigmund Freud was the first scientist to attempt to present the reality of the individual human being's unconscious and to find ways of dealing with unconscious forces. In the early 1930s, Erich Fromm built upon Freud's insights on the individual and began to study the unconscious of society. However, this attempt soon revealed the limits of the theory of drives, which Freud used to bring his discoveries into a systematic explanatory context.

In Beyond Freud, Fromm discusses his findings in relation to Freud's. In studying both the unconsciousness of the individual and of society, Fromm found that Freud wrongly based psychology totally on natural factors; Freud needed to include social influences as well.

This book is broken into three dynamic sections:

1. Man's Impulse Structure and Its Relation to Culture

2. Psychic Needs and Society (1956 lecture)

3. Dealing with the Unconscious in Psychotherapeutic Practice (1959 lecture)

Beyond Freud explores the understanding of psychoanalytic theory, relating Freudian observations and practices to the needs of society; handling the unconscious in psychotherapeutic practice; and considering the relevance of Freud's discoveries for therapy today.