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Essay on Civilization and its Discontents by Freud
The devastation of the First World War was squarely at the forefront of Freud's consciousness when he wrote Civilization and Its Discontents in the summer of 1929. His central observation in this essay about the tension between the individual and civilization was historically grounded in the destructive warfare and unleashing of violent human energies he had witnessed a decade earlier.
The primal instinct of human beings is to act aggressively towards one another. In primitive societies, the head of the family gave free reign to the instinctual manifestations of his aggression at the expense of all others; in civilized society, we have restrained our inclination to aggression through the rule of law and the imposition of authority (both internal and external), to ensure the maximum security and happiness for all. While we originally entered society precisely to escape the forces of mutual aggression and self-destruction, the necessity to thwart our aggressive instincts has paradoxically caused great unhappiness, an increasingly burdensome sense of guilt, and in the most extreme cases, various forms of psychological neurosis. Individuals have consequently begun to rebel against civilization with an aggression that exceeds the level of aggression originally suppressed, threatening the disintegration of society.
Freud draws an extended analogy between the libidinal development of the individual and the evolution of civilization, identifying three parallel stages in which each occurs:
- character-formation (acquisition of a distinct identity);
- sublimation (channeling of primal energy into other physical or psychological activities);
- non-satisfaction/renunciation of instincts (burying of aggressive impulses in the individual; imposition of the rule of law in society).
Freud also identifies a key difference between the two processes: the program of the pleasure principle, which consists in finding and achieving happiness, is retained as the central aim of individual development; whereas in the context of civilization, personal happiness is often ignored in the interests of social unity and cohesion................
