Freud: basic view of the individual

Freud 's View on Individual and Society

Freud 's View on Individual and Society

Abstract

Sigmund Freud is one of the greatest thinkers of the twentieth century who revolutionized the concept of the individual and his relationship with the society . His clinical experience and researches probed deep into the hitherto unknown recesses of human soul and shed light on neurosis or abnormal behavior . His view on human psychology and social problems are spread over his numerous works running into twenty-four volumes of which I have focused on New Introductory Lectures on

br Psychoanalysis (1933 , Civilization and its Discontents (1930 ) and The Future of Illusions (1927 . The New Introductory Lectures are a sequel to Introductory Lectures it is written for the laymen and therefore may be regarded as popular science . The first lectures (1915-17 ) dealing with the structure of the mind , anxiety , feminine psychology and the theory of instincts delves deep into the realm of meta-psychology . In the Civilization and Its Discontents Freud explores the nature of conflict between the demands of basic instincts and the restrictions imposed by civilization . He interprets the aggressive and cruel behavior such as sadism as an expression of self-preservation instincts despite social disapproval . He also explains the emotion of ambivalence - the strange admixture of love and hate toward the same person . In the Future of an Illusions he shows how a few powerful individuals shape the course of civilization by imposing their ideas on the majority . In these works Freud examines how the individual and society...