ABSTRACT
Although Sigmund Freud never employed the term “youth movement,” he hypothesized in Totem and Taboo that the origins of human society were to be found in the collective actions of young people. This earliest and most momentous of “youth movements” supposedly occurred in a primeval clan dominated by a single adult male. The young men of the clan, frustrated that this primal patriarch restricted their sexual access to females, formed a conspiracy and killed him. Then, abashed by their deed and fearing that rivalry for the females would lead to further violence, they established laws (taboos) prohibiting sexual intercourse among clan members. These laws provided the legal and cooperative foundation upon which all society rests, or so Freud claimed.
