Anthropology through the eyes of a Psychoanalyst

    As we continue to delve deeper into anthropological theory, I've found myself to be most intrigued by Sigmund Freud’s theory on “Civilization and its Discontents”. As a part of studying people’s discontents with society and civilization Freud sets out to explain why civilization (or what many anthropologists would call culture) is at odds with the human psychological nature. In doing so Freud says that it is culture that prohibits man’s expression of human desires (including sexual) through institutions and ideologies. As a part of his research, Freud has found that the sexual desires that we possess are suppressed by the institutions that we've set up and proves this by theorizing the stages of psychological development and the structure of the human psyche and then applying those theories at a cultural level.

 
     In Freud’s research we become exposed to the first attempt to link psychoanalysis with anthropological ideas of civilization and culture. Although Freud does not see evidence of civilized being better, he works to classify society and civilization as a stage of psychological development.

Freud begins by laying out the structure of the human psyche. On an individual level, we all possess a “super ego”, that tells us what we should do. Then there is the “id” which is the more impulsive, wild side in which we look to satisfy our primal instinct. And lastly there is the “ego” which is somewhere between our super ego and id, allowing us to think and act rationally. The “ego” is the person we are on a day to day basis and interacts with the outside world. At a cultural level, Freud says it is the super ego that represents what we call culture and societies norms. The id is the representation of the primitive, pre-social human and the ego then becomes the social human being.

   
    In a broader context Freud attempts to explain the stages of psycho sexual development. He believes that in our earliest years of life we go through the oral, anal and then genital stage. At the oral stage we become fixated on the act of being oral; by the means of breast feeding or simply wanting to put everything in our mouths. Then we move to the anal stage in which we become potty trained and find this to be our center of pleasure. We find pleasure in the approval that comes with using the bathroom and mastering and controlling those urges. And finally the genital stage where at the age of 3 to 5 we establish a social taboo and become obsessed with our genitals. As a result of this we experience our first signs of civilized suppression with latency. Latency is the warning against genital interest, until adolescence when this interest in genitals flares up again. Freud concludes that a “civilized” society is one stuck in the anal stage. He supports this by developing on the idea of the “anal character” and “being anal”. The obsession with cleanliness and order comes as a product of potty training having gone awry. Therefore, civilization has an anal personality at an institutional level.

    With the development of these theories and ideas Freud has been the subject of a lot of criticism and interest. Many believe that Freud’s theories lack evidence (for instance, someone like Boas would tell him to “Prove it!”). At the same time Freud’s ideas have been recognized and appreciated by later famous anthropologists such as Ruth Benedict who looked to label cultures by means of psychological attributes. Freud’s theories can be applied at a very general level and tend to follow a more westernized approach. On top of this his lack of concrete evidence to back up such claims can be seen as very questionable. Despite his inability to give us sufficient information, Freud’s ideas give us a basis for psychological anthropology and allow us to ponder and work from his theories and develop on them today.