Totem and Taboo (Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, #0) (Routledge Classics) (Ark Paperbacks)

by Sigmund Freud

Widely acknowledged to be one of Freud's greatest cultural works, when Totem and Taboo was first published in 1913, it caused outrage. Thorough and thought-provoking, Totem and Taboo remains the fullest exploration of Freud's most famous themes. Family, society, religion - they're all put on the couch here. Whatever your feelings about psychoanalysis, Freud's theories have influenced every facet of modern life, from film and literature to medicine and art. If you don't know your incest taboo from your Oedipal complex, and you want to understand more about the culture we're living in, then Totem and Taboo is the book to read.

• ISBN10: 041525387X
• ISBN13: 9780415253871
• Publish Date: 17 May 2001 (first published 12 April 1960)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Imprint: Routledge
• Edition: 2nd edition
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 224
• Language: English

Reviews

[celinenyx]

Not only does Freud basically base his entire reading on one book that describes distant tribes which he himself has never seen or studied, his connecting of "savages" with children/neurotics is insulting and racist. Freud's Oedipal system makes him conveniently forget the existence of women whenever it suits him, claiming for example that all male children with animal phobias connect the feared animal to their fathers. He does not make any claims with regard to female children (do they fear their mothers? Or their fathers?)

This book doesn't seem to have anything going for it apart from general historical interest.