38 min listen
Civilization and Its Discontents
FromWrit Large
ratings:
Length:
21 minutes
Released:
Nov 12, 2020
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
In 1930, Sigmund Freud wrote Civilization and its Discontents and laid out his theory of civilization: civilization’s a problem, and it makes us unhappy. Freud felt humans were aggressive creatures by nature, that we delight in exercising our aggression and hurting one another. He claimed that civilization, with its laws and mores, prevents us from gratifying that aggressiveness.
Elizabeth Lunbeck is a professor in the History of Science Department and Director of Graduate Studies at Harvard University, specializing in the history of psychoanalysis, psychiatry, and psychology. Her written works include The Psychiatric Persuasion: Knowledge, Gender, and Power in Modern America and The Americanization of Narcissism.
See more information on our website, WritLarge.fm.
Follow us on Twitter @WritLargePod.
Elizabeth Lunbeck is a professor in the History of Science Department and Director of Graduate Studies at Harvard University, specializing in the history of psychoanalysis, psychiatry, and psychology. Her written works include The Psychiatric Persuasion: Knowledge, Gender, and Power in Modern America and The Americanization of Narcissism.
See more information on our website, WritLarge.fm.
Follow us on Twitter @WritLargePod.
Released:
Nov 12, 2020
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
Leaves of Grass: Walt Whitman offered a new vision of American poetry and American identity—one that was diverse urban, and embodied. by Writ Large