Concept
Marketing orientation
The nonproductive character orientation that Fromm, in Man for Himself (1947), took to be characteristic of modern market society: a person experiences themselves as a commodity whose worth lies in its exchange value, in being saleable on the personality market, rather than in their own qualities and powers. Its self-esteem depends on the market's verdict, and its identity is adaptable and empty, shaped to whatever is in demand.
- Broader concept
- Character orientation
- Introduced by
- Erich Fromm
- Key works
- 1
- Related
- Productive orientation
introduced by
- Erich Fromm 1947 Fromm added the marketing orientation in Man for Himself (1947) as the character type proper to a market economy, in which the person is experienced as a commodity.
opposed by
- Productive orientation Fromm set the productive orientation against all the nonproductive ones, and against the marketing orientation in particular, whose self is an exchangeable commodity rather than the expression of a person's own powers.