The Effects of Definition Greed According to Erich Fromm, a German Social Psychologist

What is Greed? Erich Fromm, a German social psychologist, defined it as the following: "Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy a need without ever reaching satisfaction." The true roots of greed come from a genuine psychological addiction. Greed is such an issue because it manifests as a never-ending cycle. There is no endpoint, no specific amount of money that can ever finally satisfy. Although traditionally associated with money, it can be tied to power and knowledge. Greed is the excessive desire for something, often at the expense of others.

The desire to survive is embedded deep within our human nature. But when does survival become luxury, and luxury become greed? To understand what greed truly is, you must look at its underlying causes. Greed can arise from feelings of inadequacy, depression, or loneliness. The greed-propelled pursuit of wealth often involves manipulativeness and insensitivity to the needs or thoughts of others. Often times, these money-hungry people do not realize their greed stems from a subconscious belief that they may not be good enough or worthy. "Success" helps them believe the illusion that they are superior to others around them. Greed does not only pertain to the pursuit of wealth. Well, what is wealth? Wealth is the cumulation of all of our assets. Some people come through with generational wealth

Although greed is primarily centered or focused around money and a single person, it can be related to power and groups. The policy of Indian Removal in the Southeast during the 1800s removed the Indian peoples from their native land. They were removed despite their agreement to assimilate to western culture. Many of the Indians, especially the Cherokee, adopted plantation agriculture and came up with an American-type constitution with a written language. There was no justified reason for this event, other than the belief that the Americans were racially superior (narcissism), and deserved the land more than the Indians. This is a prime example of a greed for power. Increasing popular, different descriptions and definitions of greed have been found across cultures and time periods.

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The word "greed" means the excessively eager desire to possess. It is a back-formation from the word "greedy". Greedy comes from the Old English "graedig" and Anglican "gredig" meaning voracious or hungry, and eager to obtain. In Greek, the word was "philargyros", meaning "money-loving". One German word that described Greed was "habsuchtig"; haben meaning "to have" and such with a meaning leaning towards "passion for".

It is a common quote that "you cannot get enough of what you really want". People are not driven by greed to get rich, but to get even richer. This insatiable passion for money is a never-ending cycle that can leave many destroyed lives in its wake. Paradoxically, greed can come from a lack of selfishness. Whether in the form of money, drugs, power, or something else, the pursuit of these things results in a slow but steady degradation of a person's well being. However, greed can be a type of selfishness. Greed is the uncontrollable desire something, primarily materialistic, and can have detrimental external and internal repercussions.

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