Civilization and Its Discontents - Paperback - 9781891396250

Reprint of the 1930 American edition. 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.

• | Author: Sigmund Freud
• | Publisher: Martino Fine Books
• | Publication Date: Oct 18, 2010
• | Number of Pages: 146 pages
• | Binding: Paperback or Softback
• | ISBN-10: 1891396250
• | ISBN-13: 9781891396250