Civilization and Its Discontents by Sigmund Freud

Civilization and Its Discontents is widely considered Sigmund Freud's most important and most brilliant work. In it, Freud examines why modern society causes suffering on such a vast scale, and whether the human drives for pleasure and aggression can ever truly be reconciled.

This lively new translation, with helpful explanatory notes, captures Freud's engaging tone for a twenty-first-century audience and includes essays by two of Freud's most insightful and renowned interpreters, historian Carl E. Schorske and philosopher Richard Rorty.

This book is featured on The Book Club with Michael Knowles, PragerU's show dedicated to the great books of Western civilization. In this episode, Michael Knowles is joined by Dr. Stephen Marmer, clinical psychiatrist and professor of psychiatry at UCLA, for a deep dive into Freud's anti-utopian work and its call for individuals to take responsibility for themselves rather than expect society to resolve the perpetual struggle between self and civilization.

📺 Watch the episode: Stephen Marmer — Civilization and Its Discontents by Sigmund Freud

Read Freud's landmark work on the tension between individual desire and the demands of society, and discover why his anti-utopian diagnosis still resonates a century later.