Civilization and Its Discontents
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4.3 • 3 Ratings
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- $0.99
Publisher Description
It stands as a brilliant summary of the views on culture from a psychoanalytic perspective that he had been developing since the turn of the century. It is both witness and tribute to the late theory of mind—the so-called structural theory, with its stress on aggression, indeed the death drive, as the pitiless adversary of eros.
Civilization and Its Discontents is one of the last of Freud's books, written in the decade before his death and first published in German in 1929. In it he states his views on the broad question of man's place in the world, a place Freud defines in terms of ceaseless conflict between the individual's quest for freedom and society's demand for conformity.
Freud's theme is that what works for civilization doesn't necessarily work for man. Man, by nature aggressive and egotistical, seeks self-satisfaction. But culture inhibits his instinctual drives. The result is a pervasive and familiar guilt.
Customer Reviews
Insight and Intricacy
Freud's exploration of culture merits both resolute engagement and circumspect scrutiny. As a psychologist, Freud endeavored to engage deeply with societal structures, deconstruct the underpinnings of its formation, and relate these insights to the intricacies of human behavior. The Herculean nature of this undertaking is undeniable, yet Freud remained undeterred. His rigorous examination unveiled civilization's inherent propensity to suppress the emotional facets of humanity, with a particular focus on sexual identity.
While I approached his delineation of the inner forces— the ego, superego, and id— with a measure of skepticism, I found his insights on the tension between individual contentment and society's often unattainable expectations to be both persuasive and enduringly relevant.