Moral Masochism

MORAL MASOCHISM

Moral masochism is seeking unpleasure without being aware of the masochistic sexual satisfaction thus obtained because of unconscious feelings of guilt.

Freud used the term moral in The Ego and the Id (1923b), where he linked negative therapeutic reactions to a "what may be called a moral factor" (p. 49), an unconscious sense of guilt and its satisfaction by means of punishment and suffering.

In "The Economic Problem of Masochism" (1924c), Freud described moral masochism as the third form of masochism, alongside feminine masochism and erotogenic masochism. In moral masochism the connection to an external object comes undone: "The suffering itself is what matters; whether it is decreed by someone who is loved or by someone who is indifferent is of no importance. It may even be caused by impersonal powers or circumstances; the true masochist always turns his cheek whenever he has a chance of receiving a blow" (p. 165).

Unconscious guilt feelings are thus assuaged. This is at once one of the greatest benefits of neurotic suffering and the source of negative reactions to therapy. Freud made the valuable observation that the notion of a need for punishment applies only to patients whose sense of guilt remains unconscious. The ego's masochism in fact stems from the cruel superego, which, at its formation, assumed the mantle of the introjected parents. "The dark power of Destiny" (p. 168) is the final figure in this series of authorities that begins with the parents, and it remains their unconscious representative. Whereas self-punishment by the cruel superego is consciously perceived, this is not the case with masochism of the ego.

This shift from self-punishment by the sadistic superego to masochism of the ego is fraught with destructive consequences. It ruins moral consciousness, which is now used to obtain internal, essentially oedipal satisfaction. Indeed, the subject's relationship to the parents is resexualized by an eroticization of the ego's relationship to the superego. The analysis of moral masochism thus reveals a feminine masochism and, in the final analysis, an erotogenic masochism. The subject must suffer endless self-punishment, because all punishment is subverted to masochistic gratification. In this context Freud, in "Dostoevsky and Parricide" (1928b [1927]), evoked certain Russian character types. Arising from instinctual fusion and libidinal satisfaction, moral masochism comes from a death drive that has not been diverted outward, and for this reason is dangerous.

It is worth noting that in its incestuous internal regression, which is all the more effective because any impersonal life circumstance can mask its nature, masochism of the ego in fact denies all authority and subverts the impersonal nature of the superego (which Francis Pasche as a prerequisite of its effective functioning). This circumstance makes ego masochism into an instrument of transgression even more apt to conceal the incestuous relation to internal objects. The self-destructive aspect of ego masochism also comes from a relative de-objectification of external objects in their otherness. The moral masochist loses the strong sadomasochistic pregenital bond with the object that is found in sexual perversion.

Denys Ribas

See also: Masochism.

Bibliography

Freud, Sigmund. (1923b). The ego and the id. SE, 19: 1-66.

——. (1924c). The economic problem of masochism. SE, 19: 155-170.

——. (1928b [1927]). Dostoevsky and parricide. SE, 21: 173-196.

Pasche, Francis. Du surmoi ambivalent au surmoi impersonnel. Bulletin Méditerranéen de la Société Psychanalytique de Paris, 1, 7-19.

Further Reading

Spiegel, Leo. (1978). Moral masochism. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 47, 209-236.

Markson, Elliott. (1993). Depression and moral masochism. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 74, 931-940.