Freud's ideas about the development of civilization and its dilemma between freedom and restriction of drives, which derived from his study of the conflict in neurosis, have been remarkably confirmed by the events and the change of the cultural climate of the last fifty years.

Sexual freedom has, in accordance with Freud's conception of repression, considerably transformed the manifestations of the neuroses; however, it has not produced greater mental health but only new neurotic constellations. The lesser repression of infantile sexuality has, as he feared, reduced the control of aggression. The hostility against the culture which forces the individual to restrict his libidinal and aggressive drives has grown, although the repression of drives is diminished. The task of 'reconciling men to civilization' is not made easier through the liberation of drives.