Freedom and Anxiety: A Psychoanalytic Exploration of the Super-ego in the Postmodern Era.

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore how the postmodern era may have altered the functioning of the Freudian super-ego. The aim of this paper is to create a discussion about which super-ego features may have disappeared, which may have been modified and which may have remained unaltered. Some of the hypotheses are illustrated through the discussion of the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis suggests that postmodernity has modified aspects of the super-ego, promoting emancipation and the reduction of repression, while it generated uncertainty, new anxieties and an unconditional obligation to conform to unrealistic ideals of happiness and freedom.