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Totem and Taboo (Masterplots II: Nonfiction Series)

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Totem and Taboo is a formal intellectual essay which elaborates on ideas fundamental to Sigmund Freud’s theories of the developmental structure of the personality and its relation to the nature of human society. Specifically, it examines the origins of modern social institutions (such as the family), religion, law, myth and totemism, the incest taboo, and exogamy. The essay is divided into four major sections which deal with various aspects of primitive society. In order to understand how Freud derived the themes contained in Totem and...

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