ABSTRACT
With Totem and Taboo, Freud’s social theoretical concerns, which had always been covertly and fragmentally present in his work, became overt and systematic. Here Freud clearly emerges as the social and cultural theorist he had always aspired to be, and does so: (1) by grounding the neuroses in the unraveling of social bonds and the weakening of cultural institutions, which then force individuals to seek meaning, compensation, and solace by private means rather than by collective effort; and (2) by joining one of the great projects of modern social thought, namely, the quest for a new, compelling myth to supplant the Augustinian myth of the fall and salvation of mankind. Freud’s myth of a “primal crime,” like the myths of Hobbes, Rousseau, and Marx, sought to provide us with a compelling account of our fundamental nature, the origin of evil, the transition from our natural condition to a civilized state, and a persuasive vision of the best we can hope for, personally and socially in light of that nature.
