"Totem und Tabu" by Sigmund Freud is a work published in 1913. Through four essays, Freud applies psychoanalytic methods to questions of anthropology, examining primitive societies through the lens of individual psychological development. He explores why certain cultures have intense incest taboos, what underlies the concept of taboo itself, how magical thinking emerges, and what connects totemism to social structures. Freud draws controversial parallels between "primitive" peoples and neurotics, proposing a provocative theory about the violent origins of human civilization.