Civilization and Its Discontents – Sigmund Freud
Civilization and Its Discontents by Sigmund Freud / ISBN 9780141395890 / small 192-page hardback from the Penguin Pocket Hardbacks series / cover by Coralie Bickford-Smith
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Freud’s epoch-making insights revolutionized our perception of who we are, forming the foundation for psychoanalysis. In Civilization and its Discontents he considers the incompatibility of civilization and individual happiness. Focusing on what he perceives to be one of society’s greatest dangers; ‘civilized’ sexual morality, he asks, does repression compromise our chances of happiness?
Sigmund Freud was born in 1856 and died in exile in London in 1939. As a writer and doctor he remains one of the informing voices of the twentieth century.