summary of Totem and Taboo by Sigmund Freud:

Sigmund Freud’s Totem and Taboo (1913) is a pioneering and controversial work that applies psychoanalytic theory to anthropology, religion, and the origins of human civilization. Freud explores the parallels between the mental lives of so-called “primitive” societies and the unconscious processes of individuals, particularly neurotics. He focuses on the concepts of totemism—systems in which clans identify with sacred animals or plants believed to have protective and ancestral significance—and taboo, prohibitions often linked to these totems, especially surrounding incest, sexuality, and violence. Drawing from ethnographic studies available at the time, Freud argues that these practices reveal deep-seated psychological mechanisms. His most famous and provocative claim is the “primal horde” theory, where he speculates that human civilization originated in a violent event: the sons of an early patriarchal clan collectively killed and consumed the dominant father who monopolized the women. Wracked by guilt, they instituted totemic worship as a symbolic substitute for the slain father and imposed incest taboos to regulate sexual rivalry. In Freud’s interpretation, this event marks the birth of religion, morality, and social organization, with totemism and taboos embodying the repressed memory of the father’s murder. He further draws connections between these collective practices and individual neuroses, suggesting that both are rooted in unconscious desires and repressions. While modern anthropology has largely rejected many of Freud’s speculative claims, Totem and Taboo remains significant for its bold attempt to link psychoanalysis with cultural origins, its influence on later theories of myth, ritual, and religion, and its central role in shaping twentieth-century debates about the relationship between psychology, society, and culture.