An Historical Analysis of the Freudian Conception of the Superego

Morality, in the form of prohibitions and restraints in group or communal life, became a crucial issue in Freud's thinking at the time of his major works on the structures of the mind.24 He regarded the restraint of certain instinctual impulses essential to the perpetuation of communal living, especially to that of more advanced civilizations. He viewed the individual as possessing instincts that are deleterious to the purposes and aims of culture and a danger to the very existence of civilization. This was clearly stated by Freud in the early part of one of his major works on civilization: “Thus culture must be defended against the individual, and its organizations, its institutions and its laws, are all directed to this end; they aim not only at establishing a certain distribution of property, but also at maintaining it; in fact, they must protect against the hostile impulses of mankind everything that contributes to the conquest of nature and the production of wealth.”33

Freud, in his later writings, discussed the sociological aspects of cultural life in some detail. His discussion of religion in the abovequoted work is an example of his concern with the important institutions of civilization. However, his concern with these sociological factors was secondary to his concern with the psychological aspects of the restrictions imposed on the individual by his society. He was mainly interested in elucidating the psychological mechanisms involved in the development of prohibitions in the individual, and in understanding the nature of these mechanisms in both normal and abnormal behavior.