ABSTRACT
Freud’s psychology is primarily a description of modern life, and consequently provides invaluable material for contemporary sociology. Indeed, insofar as the experience of modernity is a central issue in sociology, it is in terms of his fundamental psychological works that Freud makes his major contribution to our understanding of society. These works can be approached and effectively linked with the variety of overlapping contexts within which their social meaning comes into sharper focus, through a consideration of what might be termed Freud’s ‘aesthetic’ writings.1 These works can be read as indicating his interest in, and understanding of, the immediacy of social life. Certainly, more than Totem and Taboo, or Civilisation and its Discontents his aesthetic works might be considered as contributions to sociological theory; that is, to an understanding of the nature of social experience and social relationships in modern society.
