Totem and Taboo by Sigmund Freud

Name: Totem and Taboo
Author: Sigmund Freud

The work explores the connection between the totemic system of Australian Aboriginal societies and the taboo prohibitions of Polynesian cultures, tracing their origins back to a common source in the Oedipus complex. It argues that the totem represents a collective father figure, whose murder by the primal horde led to feelings of guilt and the establishment of moral restrictions.

By Sigmund Freud · First published 1913 · Genre: Psychology, Anthropology, Sociology · 4 chapters · 59,986 words

First lines

PRIMITIVE man is known to us by the stages of development through which he has passed: that is, through the inanimate monuments and implements which he has left behind for us, through our knowledge of his art, his religion and his attitude towards life, which we have received either directly or through the medium of legends, myths and fairy tales; and through the remnants of his ways of thinking that survive in our own manners and customs. Moreover, in a certain sense he is still our contemporary: there are people whom we still consider more closely related to primitive man than to ourselves, in whom we therefore recognize the direct descendants and representatives of earlier man. We can thus judge the so-called savage and semi-savage races; their psychic life assumes a peculiar interest for us, for we can recognize in their psychic life a well-preserved, early stage of our own development.

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Totem and Taboo is listed on Textopian as an essay by Sigmund Freud, dated 1913 CE.

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Work type: Essay
Author: Sigmund Freud
Date: 1913 CE
Language: English
Genres: Psychology, Anthropology, Sociology, Philosophy, Cultural Studies
Length: 59,986 words
Structure: 4 chapters, 587 paragraphs
Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)

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Genres

Psychology — The book explores the psychological underpinnings of primitive societies, particularly through the lens of psychoanalysis and the concept of taboo.
Anthropology — It examines the cultural practices and social structures of primitive tribes, particularly focusing on totemism and its implications for social organization.
Sociology — The work discusses the social implications of totemism and taboo, analyzing how these concepts shape social relationships and norms.
Philosophy — Freud's exploration of taboo raises philosophical questions about morality, societal norms, and the nature of human behavior.