Abstract

This is a social analysis aiming to compare, analyze and clarify the concept of repression in the works of Sigmund Freud and Herbert Marcuse addressing how Marcuse diverges from Freud in his vision of the fate of civilization, although he starts his analysis on the ground of Freudian psychoanalysis: why do Freud and Marcuse arrive at different conclusions about the fate of civilization?; while Freud shows a gloomy conclusion of civilization of inevitable repression just like the Weberian notion of the inescapable "iron cage," Marcuse's conclusion suggests the possibility of non-repressive civilization. ;The study is strictly social in the sense that much attention is given on how the repression has got into shape in the modern industrial society than on the pure psychological exploration and discussion of the concept of the repression itself. In the study, I show how the repression, which I consider as defense mechanism in the struggle between the pleasure principle and the reality principle, is directly related to the establishment and history of civilization in the works of Freud and Marcuse. In doing so, I develop my study in its twofold dimensions as it is appeared in Marcuse's Eros and Civilization: first, as a technical psychic mechanism of the individual to deny the entrance of painful instincts into consciousness--"ontogeny"; and second, as a social process which transforms libidinous energy into channels which are useful to the preservation and perpetuation of the on-going society--"phylogeny." ;The other half of the study is devoted to analyze and discuss the concepts of "surplus repression" and "performance principle" which are the main contribution of Marcuse to critical psychoanalysis. The very concepts of surplus repression and performance principle urge Marcuse to speculate for non-repressive civilization and to maintain the belief of human liberation which is embodied in "return to Eros" in Marcuse's terms. In discussing Marcuse's vision of non-repressive civilization, first, I follow the precise logic of Marcuse's Hegelian-Marxist exploration of the political economy of industrial society. Second, returning to Freud, I discuss how Marcuse revise and elaborate Freud's original psychoanalytic concepts to lead them as a means of non-repressive civilization