Totem and Taboo
Author: Sigmund Freud
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Pages: 292
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The first and shortest of the four essays concerns incest taboos adopted by societies believing in totemism. Freud uses examples mostly from the Australian Aborigines, gathered and discussed by anthropologist James George Frazer. He points out, with some surprise, that although the Aborigines do not seem to have any sexual restrictions, there's an elaborate social organization whose sole purpose is to prevent incestuous sexual relations. Freud discusses various ways in which the exogamy of the totem system prevents incest not only among the nuclear family, but among extended families as well. In addition, the totem system prevents 'incest' among members of the same totem clan who are not related by blood and considers as incest relations between clan members which could not produce child...
