For a world that seems to have, for the most part, rejected Freud's ideas, we seem to talk about him a lot. For instance, probably everyday you hear someone talking about what they are "subconsciously" dealing with or thinking, or calling out Freudian slips. Generally, I think people try to look into themselves and being introspective has become a big cultural focus.
So, why do we talk about Freud so much if, for the most part, we reject his ideas?
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I would say a major reason that we discuss and learn about Freud, even as many of his theories have been, at best, dismissed and, at worst, (rightfully) harshly critiqued, is the large impact he had on 20th century thought. We've talked about this in class a bit, but many later writers, artists, philosophers, and other thinkers drew from and responded to Freud's ideas. His position as the most influential figure in the beginning of modern psychology lends him historical significance on its own. But in addition, the way his ideas about the subconscious influenced movements like surrealism and literary modernism make studying his ideas important to understanding works in these movements.
I think it's a related but somewhat distinct question to consider how Freud remains so omnipresent in modern culture. While everyday references to the unconscious and Freudian slips can be linked to his influence on 20th century thought and art, I think there could be other factors contributing to how Freud remains such an important cultural figure. One thing that could possibly be a part of this is how many of his ideas, despite their lack of scientific support, have an almost elegant simplicity and plausibility that gives them a sort of pseudoscientific appeal. The ideas of the unconscious and the id, for example, seem sort of plausible even if they might not hold up under strict scrutiny, so they remain in our culture.
Lastly, other figures of similar cultural significance are similarly entrenched in modern culture as Freud is, it's just that there are few figures of such stature. Freud's closest contemporaries who had a similar impacts on Western thought would probably be Marx and Einstein, both of whom are important cultural figures even today. Einstein enjoys a sort of similar status to Freud I would say, though perhaps Einstein should enjoy higher status as his ideas were better/more right. I think Marx is a more equitable figure in how he influenced Western thought in general. While Marx is probably a less well-known cultural figure than Freud, I think a large part of that might be due to how his theories differ (sort of less applicable, more discomforting to Western/American culture) as well as the result of his influence, AKA Communism, which is on the edgy/controversial side for mainstream culture after the Cold War. This is sort of interesting considering Marx's basic ideas have probably held up better in a modern academic context (where Marxist theory of analyzing things through the lens of class struggles is common) than Freud.
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