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Primary sourceBook1913

Totem and Taboo

Sigmund Freud · 1913

Freud's 1913 book applying psychoanalysis to anthropology, exploring taboo, totemism, and the origins of morality and religion.

Freud authored this work, extending psychoanalysis into anthropology and the study of religion's origins.

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Front cover of the 1913 German book Totem und Tabu by Sigmund Freud, tan paper cover with title, subtitle, author line, a decorative publisher emblem, and the imprint Hugo Heller & Cie, Leipzig und Wien.
Sigmund Freud, Totem und Tabu, Leipzig und Wien: H. Heller & Cie, 1913.

About this source

What it is

A book of four essays by Sigmund Freud, first published in the journal Imago in 1912–13 and collected as a book in 1913, titled Totem und Tabu in German.

Why it matters

Freud, inspired by the work of Wilhelm Wundt and Carl Jung, used psychoanalytic concepts like ambivalence and projection to explain incest taboos, totemism, and magical thinking among so-called 'primitive' peoples, comparing them to the mental lives of neurotics. Though once compared to classic works of anthropology such as James Frazer's The Golden Bough, the book has been heavily criticized by later anthropologists, including Alfred Kroeber. It shows how Freud extended his theories from individual psychology to the origins of culture and religion.

Look closer

  • What does Freud's comparison of 'savages' and neurotics reveal about his assumptions?
  • Why might modern anthropologists reject Freud's conclusions?
  • How does this book connect to his later ideas in Moses and Monotheism?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Sigmund Freud on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Sigmund Freud's Voice (BBC Broadcast Recording, 1938)

Sigmund Freud · 27 December 1938

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