Psycho-Analysis and Sociology
Man, Morals and Society. By J. C. Flugel. (Duckworth. 21s.)
PSYCHO–ANALYSIS grew up as a method for dealing with mental diseases, but the theories and principles which the experience thus gained suggested proved capable of much wider application. Freud himself used his analysis of the structure of human personality and especially his classification of human instincts to throw light upon the nature of human groups, the foundations- of morality and religion and indeed all the elements of culture. In this he has been followed by many of his disciples, and now there is hardly a branch of sociological inquiry which has remained unaffected by Freud's dis- covery of the important role played by unconscious factors in the growth of the mind. In the work before us Professor Flugel has brought together in systematic manner the principal results of these varied studies. For this task Professor Flugel is eminently well- fitted. He has not only a deep knowledge of psycho-analysis, but of all the other relevant disciplines, and while he makes very high claims for psycho-analysis he is genuinely anxious to effect a synthesis between it and whatever any be learnt from other sources. He writes with balance and moderation and he avoids the aggressive , manner which many writers on psycho-analysis cultivate, despite their warning to others that such a manner is likely to conceal an under- lying lack of confidence. The book can be warmly recommended as a persuasive and lucid exposition of all that psycho-analysis has to offer us towards the interpretation of human relations.
In the centre of Professor Fingers inquiry is• the problem of the nature of morality. He is not one of those who think that ethics can be reduced to psychology, but claims that psychology can throw useful light on the origin and growth of moral sentiments, while leaving problems of ultimatesralidity to the philosophers. What then has psycho-analysis to offer us that is both new and important? There is an initial difficulty in answering this question which arises
from the very complicated and technical terminology that the psycho- analysts have evolved. This is no doubt necessary for their proper purpose, but it often results in giving to their ideas an air of novelty and even of mystery which makes it very difficult to compare their views with those held by other psychologists. Even with Professor Flugel's help, this difficulty is not easy to overcome.
The positive elements of morality—that is to say, the actions which are held to be worthy of pursuit, are interpreted by the psycho-analysts in. terms of what they call the ego-ideaL By this is
meant the picture we form of ourselves not as we really are but as we might be or would like to be. The conception is-familiar to psycho-
logists in the form of what they call the ideal self. What is novel in the psycho-analytic theory appears to be that the love of ideals is brought under the heading of self-love. A portion of the " libido " is directed towards our real selves, but, realising our limitations, we form a picture of ourselves as we would like to be, and to this ideal self our " narcissistic libido " is then said to be directed. This theory has its affinities with McDougall's theory of the part played by the sentiment of self-regard in the formation of character. Now, that the idea of the self and the emotions of self- exaltation and self-abasement are important factors in the growth of moral sentiments is true. But it must be questioned whether it is really illuminating to identify the love of ideals with the love of self. The self is not its own exclusive object, and there may well be many other things which can be loved directly and for their own sake and not as parts of the self.
A second source of morality is traced to what is called " intro- jection," or the incorporation into one's own mind of the standards and precepts upheld by impressive people in our environment. There is nothing new in this, except that the psycho-analysts have laid greater stress than other moralists on the importance of early childhood experiences.
The novel elements in the psycho-analytic theory of morals appear most clearly in the account they give of the repressive aspects of the moral life, those concerned with negative injunctions or prohi- bitions. In dealing with these, psycho-analysts were early struck with the great severity of the conscience, resulting in acts of cruel self-humiliation and self-torture. To account for these facts stress is laid on the part played by aggression in the formation of the " super-ego." There is said to occur a recoil against the self of the aggression originally aroused by frustration and interference.
In incorporating the authority of the parents into his own self the child also incorporates the aggression naturally attributed to the parents as a source of frustration, and at the same time the child directs his own aggression towards the parents, an impulse which has to be repressed, against himself. To this redoubled aggression is attributed the severity of the conscience which goes far beyond the severity of the parents. The process may be still further com- plicated by the intrusion of sadistic and masochistic elements. The account here briefly outlined is used by the psycho-analysts to throw light on the feeling of guilt, the nature of punishment and the phenomena of asceticism. Professor Flugel's discussion of all these matters clearly deserves close study. Here only a few brief comments can be made.
That the conscience is, or rather that it ought to be, an inward authority is a doctrine familial' to moralists. But the psycho- analysts exaggerate, I think, the extent to which the transformation from a morality of external sanctions to one of inner acceptance is achieved by most people. The tendency towards the internalisation and individualisation of morality is clearly to be discerned in the social development of mankind and in the growing emphasis laid on it by the moral teachers, but for many individuals morality remains largely conventional and- prudential. Where the transfor- mation occurs it may be doubted whether It is due to the incorpora- tion of the authority of the parents into the self. On the contrary, it is far more probably connected with the criticism of current moral standards in the light of experience derived from contact with other standards and the clash of ideals which thus results. in this context, as in others, the psycho-analysts appear to have given insufficient attention to the role gf the moral innovator and to the influence of the conflicts betweeddifferent moral standards.
The part played by repression in the formation of moral senti- ments is rightly emphasised by the psycho-analysts and constitutes their most important contribution ro the psychology of morals. In the censure we direct against others as well as against ourselves our repressed impulses find a partial outlet. Here, in their eagerness to bring out the effects of unconscious aggression, the psycho- analysts have perhaps not given sufficient consideration to other repressed impulses. A great many of the phenomena connected with self-censure may well be due to fear of one's own weakness and lack of self-mastery, and this, at least as much as displaced aggression, may account for the severity of the conscience. In the handling of asceticism, too, the problems connected with the diffi- culties of self-mastery do not appear to have received the attention they deserve.
Professor Flugel has much of importance to say on the psycho- logical aspects of war and peace, on the nature of religion and .on the psychological sources of differences in social and political atti- tudes. In all these matters it would have been helpful if Professor Flugel had given us some indication of the way he conceives psychology to be related to sociology. The psychological exp!ana- tions appear to be imposed—so to say—ready-made upon social phenomena of great complexity not readily accessible to direct examination by psycho-analytic methods. The theories are there- fore extraordinarily difficult to prove or disprove. On the whole, however, Professor Flugel presents his conclpasions in a manner free from dogmatism, and what he has to say is always interesting and thought provoking. Those who wish to know what psycho- analysis has to say on fundamental moral problems will here find an exposition • written with great clarity and candour, based on a thorough grasp of all the relevant data and likely to stimulate
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