ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author talks about the reception given by anthropologists to Totem and Taboo. Group Psychology follows up the reasoning of Totem and Taboo by describing the functioning of human groups: Sigmund Freud writes, the leader of the group is still the dreaded primal father; the group still wishes to be governed by unrestricted force; it has an extreme passion for authority; in Le Bon’s phrase, it has a thirst for obedience. Thoughts for the times on war and death, Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego, The Future of an Illusion, Civilization and its Discontents, and Moses and Monotheism were all written during the inter-war period; they bear witness to Freud’s ongoing reflection and to his exceptional capacity for work and creativity. Though he was hardly interested in the political phase of the problem, Freud clearly foresaw the rise and nature of fascist mass movements in purely psychological categories.
