Civilization and its discontents
By: Sigmund Freud ; authorized translation by Jean Riviere
Publisher: Martino Pub.
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Mansfield Centre, CT
Language: eng
Number of pages: 144
ISBN-13: 9781578988594; 9781578989478; 9781453833896
Subjects: Psychoanalysis; Social psychology; Civilization
Work titles: Unbehagen in der Kultur
Description: In this seminal book, Sigmund Freud enumerates the fundamental tensions between civilization and the individual. The primary friction stems from the individual's quest for instinctual freedom and civilization's contrary demand for conformity and instinctual repression. Many of humankind's primitive instincts (for example, the desire to kill and the insatiable craving for sexual gratification) are clearly harmful to the well-being of a human community. As a result, civilization creates laws that prohibit killing, rape, and adultery, and it implements severe punishments if such commandments are broken. This process, argues Freud, is an inherent quality of civilization that instills perpetual feelings of discontent in its citizens.
Notes: Reprint. Originally published: New York : J. Cape and H. Smith, 1930.

Includes bibliographical references.