Totem and Taboo Resemblances Between the Psychic Lives of Savages and Neurotics

"Totem and Taboo" by Sigmund Freud is a study that links the mental states of early communities to the psychological disorders seen in today's people. The book centers on totemism and taboo, especially how they relate to sex and social orders. Freud looks at where these cultural ideas come from, seeking to understand how they affect our knowledge of the human mind. The book starts by talking about the mental lives of indigenous peoples, like the Australian aborigines, and uses them as a way to learn about modern neuroses. Freud talks about taboo, mainly its link to fear of incest in societies. It also points to the specific social rules surrounding totemism, which control relationships and group duties. All this shows how looking at these early cultures can help explain the hidden reasons behind human actions, suggesting a relationship exists between the struggles found in primitive cultures and the struggles present in people with neuroses bridging ethnology and psychoanalysis.