In an interview given in 1952 Reich declared that Freud's Civilization and its discontents had been written as a reply to one of his conferences at Freud's house on the prophylaxis of neurosis. Inspired by Reich's words, this paper aims at investigating which of his thesis could be put against Freud's thought in Civilization and its discontents. Freud and Reich's points of view are differentiated based on the notions of inevitable conflict (Freud) and possibility of harmony (Reich). The paper focuses on the notions of sexuality, aggressiveness and reactive formation.
Reich, Wilhelm; Freud, Sigmund; Sexuality; Aggressiveness; Reactive formation