Aggression In Civilization And Its Discontents By Sigmund Freud

These societies were created in order to confine man’s innate instinct to be aggressive and remove most desires of man. Freud explains that in order for society to run smoothly, man must withdraw the innate urge to be aggressive. When a man’s aggressive nature is forced to be held in, man loses a sense of his identity and it is inevitable for a man to leave this piece of their character behind. Freud states, “They do not feel comfortable without it.”

Man is naturally aggressive, and a society was only created in order for man to conceal their aggression within themselves. The constant battle between him and his neighbor stem from man putting his own kin ahead of any neighbor. “If Civilization imposes such great sacrifices not only on man's sexuality but on his aggressivity, we can understand better why it is hard for him to be happy in that civilization.” With these sacrifices made, man loses a sense of himself and will constantly be in an ever-lasting battle with one’s self. Today there are countless laws and regulations that prohibit a man’s aggression to get out of hand. If these laws are broken, the person who broke the law must suffer the consequences. On the other hand, these laws and regulations allow for society to maintain order between neighbors. Man’s natural aggression creates this belief that their neighbor is out to harm them and hurt them. Man’s aggressive tendencies ruin the interaction between him and his neighbor which could threaten disintegration upon society.

Sigmund Freud describes how the current civilization is “inadequately fulfilling our demands for plan of life”. By stripping away a piece of a person’s personality. The society that has been built to control everything is depriving every one of the potential happiness they could have, but instead, everyone settles for the bare minimum that is given to them. Freud writes, “Civilized man has exchanged a portion of his possibilities of happiness for a portion of security.” The certain instinctual limits have taken such a toll to the point where people have decided they’d prefer life security rather than their own happiness. The civilization that has been built around human life have changed the way people interact with one another and keep things far from how they were during the primal ages. In today’s society, people have adapted to the fact that they must control all urges that are created by their “Id”. All of man’s urges are mediated with their ego and allows the person to be guided by the reality that they face on a daily basis. This adaptation has created a separation between society and man. Both man and society desire different things, which leads to a disconnect and could threaten a disintegration.

Through this excerpt of Sigmund Freud’s Civilization and its Discontents explains how civilization has created these limitations on man’s natural instinct of being aggressive. These limitations that have been placed on man have taken a toll on mindset and how they view certain ideas.