The genesis and meaning of the concept of fascism for the critical studies of Theodor Adorno

• Grant number: 17/24245-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2018
• End date: April 30, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Philosophy - Ethics
• Principal Investigator: Sinésio Ferraz Bueno
• Grantee: Beatriz de Almeida Boa Sorte
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências (FFC). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Marília. Marília , SP, Brazil

Abstract

After the tragic events arising from Nazism in Germany and Fascism in other European countries, in the 1940s Theodor Adorno began studies on the fascist phenomenon beyond purely political and social events. Adorno sought in Freud concepts such as death drive, malaise in civilization and narcissism to demonstrate human inclinations to aggression and consequently to fascism. The Freudian concept of Unheimlich was fundamental for Adorno to explain the repulsion by the stranger and also to demonstrate how this refusal to the different finds place and reaches devastating proportions within groups in society. Thus, Adorno sought to evidence an emotional vulnerability of people to fascism and how the individualistic logic of capitalism makes people seek refuge into fascist groups and authoritarian leaders. (AU)