Freud's Civilization and its Discontents—A Reappraisal*

A half-century has passed since Freud wrote Civilization and Its Discontents. This questing, speculative essay is Freud's most extensive application of psychoanalysis to society, and it endures as one of the revolutionary documents of our time. Although deeply flawed in certain areas, and now suffering from relative neglect, Civilization and Its Discontents demands attention because its implacable analysis of the nature of man and of his relations with civilization is even more pertinent today than it was in 1930. It is, therefore, fitting and perhaps urgent that we reexamine this work, taking advantage of the enriched perspective offered by the past 50 years of history.

At the time Freud wrote this manuscript, scarcely a decade had passed since the Great War had ended. The 10 to 12 million dead and 20 million wounded, the untold carnage, poorly evoke the barbarity of that war; perhaps the thought of the 600,000 men who perished at the single Battle of Verdun does so more strikingly. The madness of war-fever was not unknown to Freud, who had enthusiastically supported the Central Powers during the early months of the conflict. With three sons in the armed services, he could ill afford the emotional luxury of neutrality or indifference. But later he recoiled from such jingoism and unequivocally identified himself as a pacifist.

During the catastrophic social and economic conditions that followed the armistice, the Freud family barely eked out a living; their savings eroded and even Freud's modest life insurance became a worthless scrap of paper with the debacle of inflation. The situation improved