WeRead Powered by ReaderPub
Totem and taboo cover

Totem and taboo

This work assembles four essays that apply psychoanalytic ideas to social and religious phenomena, contending that taboos and totemic practices express unconscious infantile structures and emotional ambivalence. It analyzes the fear of incest and the mixed feelings that produce prohibitions, connects animistic and magical beliefs to a presumed omnipotence of thought in early mental life, and advances a hypothesis that totemic institutions emerged from a foundational act of violence followed by collective guilt. The essays continually draw parallels between cultural formations and individual neuroses, emphasizing how childhood development can reenact archaic social patterns.

By Sigmund Freud
Open in WeRead Explore More Books Like This
Archaeology & AnthropologyPsychiatry/Psychology

About This Book

This work assembles four essays that apply psychoanalytic ideas to social and religious phenomena, contending that taboos and totemic practices express unconscious infantile structures and emotional ambivalence. It analyzes the fear of incest and the mixed feelings that produce prohibitions, connects animistic and magical beliefs to a presumed omnipotence of thought in early mental life, and advances a hypothesis that totemic institutions emerged from a foundational act of violence followed by collective guilt. The essays continually draw parallels between cultural formations and individual neuroses, emphasizing how childhood development can reenact archaic social patterns.

About the Author

Freud, Sigmund portrait

Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for treating psychopathology through dialogue between a patient and a psychoanalyst. He is best known for his theories of the unconscious mind, the mechanism of repression, and the significance of dreams in understanding human behavior. Freud's influential works include "The Interpretation of Dreams," where he explores the symbolic meanings of dreams, and "Beyond the Pleasure Principle," which examines the motivations behind human behavior. His ideas have profoundly impacted psychology, literature, and the arts, making him a pivotal figure in the development of modern thought.

More Books by This Author

6 picks
A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis cover A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud Animismus, Magie und Allmacht der Gedanken / Über einige Übereinstimmungen im Seelenleben der Wilden und der Neurotiker III cover Animismus, Magie und Allmacht der Gedanken / Über einige Übereinstimmungen im Seelenleben der Wilden und der Neurotiker III by Sigmund Freud Beyond the pleasure principle cover Beyond the pleasure principle by Sigmund Freud Das Motiv der Kästchenwahl cover Das Motiv der Kästchenwahl by Sigmund Freud Das Tabu und die Ambivalenz der Gefühlsregungen / Über einige Übereinstimmungen im Seelenleben der Wilden und der Neurotiker II cover Das Tabu und die Ambivalenz der Gefühlsregungen / Über einige Übereinstimmungen im Seelenleben der Wilden und der Neurotiker II by Sigmund Freud Das Unheimliche cover Das Unheimliche by Sigmund Freud

You May Also Like

6 picks
"Five-Head" Creek; and Fish Drugging in the Pacific / 1901 cover "Five-Head" Creek; and Fish Drugging in the Pacific / 1901 by Louis Becke "Pennsylvania Dutch," and other essays cover "Pennsylvania Dutch," and other essays by Phebe Earle Gibbons "Sterminator Vesevo" (Vesuvius the great exterminator) / Diary of the Eruption of April 1906 cover "Sterminator Vesevo" (Vesuvius the great exterminator) / Diary of the Eruption of April 1906 by Matilde Serao 21 Jahre in Indien. Dritter Theil: Sumatra. cover 21 Jahre in Indien. Dritter Theil: Sumatra. by Heinrich Breitenstein 21 Jahre in Indien. Erster Theil: Borneo. cover 21 Jahre in Indien. Erster Theil: Borneo. by Heinrich Breitenstein A Bakony (1. kötet) cover A Bakony (1. kötet) by Károly Eötvös