On the other hand, it is difficult to gauge the happiness of man at an earlier era because 'happiness' is an essentially subjective sentiment.

Technology also brings the promise of better lives and greater happiness, but Freud disputes the notion that advances in technology automatically improve our quality of life. Antagonism toward civilization developed when people concluded that only a reduction of those demands - in other words, withdrawal from the society that imposed them - would lead to greater happiness. Freud identifies three key historical events that produced this disillusionment with human civilization: 1) the victory of Christendom over pagan religions (Freud notes the low value placed on earthly life in Christian doctrine) 2) the discovery and conquest of primitive tribes and peoples, who appeared to Europeans to be living more happily in a state of nature 3) scientific identification of the mechanism of neuroses, which are caused by the frustrating demands put on the individual by modern society.

Freud begins by defending his 'astonishing contention' that civilization is responsible for our misery: we organize ourselves into civilized society to escape suffering, only to inflict it back upon ourselves.

Freud civilization and its discontents