The Social History of the Unconscious - Softcover

"This psychoanalytic perspective on the history of Western civilization applies Freudian explanations of the unconscious to social and religious developments through time. A detailed examination of the psychological foundations of human cultures, from their origins to the present, is presented to probe the collective and individual motivations that have powered history. Recent discoveries in archaeology, prehistory, and social anthropology are integrated into this view of human psychosocial

There is a kind of madness in our species which we seem unable to understand or to cure: what is it that turns men's dreams of reason, of peace and justice into nightmares of hatred, aggression and all too frequently self-destruction? This apparently compulsive drive which has bedevilled societies all through history becomes particularly dangerous in our time when nuclear and biochemical weaponry are a threat not only to nations but to life on this planet. In this book George Frankl presents a detailed examination of the psychological foundations of human cultures, their origins during the ice ages and their evolution up to the present. He reviews recent discoveries in archaeology, prehistory and social anthropology and connects them into a coherent view of man's psycho-social development, and throws new light upon the social and religious conflicts which have hitherto appeared incomprehensible.