Totem and Taboo

Author: (Austrian) Freud
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2005-05-01
Features: This book consists of four essays by Freud on totems and taboos. Its distinctive feature lies in applying the perspectives and findings of psychoanalysis to resolve unresolved issues in social psychology. When discussing totems and taboos, Freud compares them to children and neurotics, thereby, as Freud himself said, bridging the gap between the social anthropology and folklore of this issue and psychoanalysis. The book attempts to derive the original meaning of totem worship by examining the remnants preserved from childhood, namely the subtle signs exhibited by our children during their growth process. The close relationship between totems and taboos further propels us toward the hypothesis proposed in this book. If the final arguments make this hypothesis appear difficult to believe, it is unnecessary to criticize its degree of resemblance to reality, after all, reconstructing such reality is so challenging.