Developed civilization cannot curb aggression because it depends on regimentation.

Evidence

Strengthened defense against aggression is necessary; but in order to be effective the defense against enlarged aggression would have to strengthen the sex instincts, for only a strong Eros can effectively `bind’ the destructive instincts. And this is precisely what the developed civilization is incapable of doing because it depends for its very existence on extended and intensified regimentation and control. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2134

Categorization

• XREF: Mirrors Marx’s contradiction-of-capitalism logic transposed into instinct theory — civilization’s survival mechanism (regimentation) is exactly what prevents it from mastering its own destructiveness. — connects to: Civilization makes violence aversion irrelevant through bureaucratic complicity — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 694; Modern civilization centralizes rather than abolishes violence — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 284; Societies that devalue and rarely model aggression produce nonviolent people — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 167 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Civilization cannot be separated from the terror that sustains it #corroborates (0.88) — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 188
• Civilization makes violence aversion irrelevant through bureaucratic complicity #expands (0.85) — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 694
• Modern civilization centralizes rather than abolishes violence #expands (0.82) — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 284
• Outward conformity breeds domestic brutality where civilization’s force does not reach #corroborates (0.80) — Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia, 189
• Societies that devalue and rarely model aggression produce nonviolent people #qualifies (0.78) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 167
• State expansion paradoxically reduces effective control and increases reliance on violence #corroborates (0.75) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1726