What happened when the father of psychoanalysis made his bold foray into the foggy prehistory of human societies and institutions? A multitude of objections arose from experts, but under the penetrating gaze of the psychoanalyst, the prevailing views of that time (such as those of Frazer, Atkinson, Wood, etc.) regarding highly debated institutions such as totemism, exogamy, incest, taboo, and animism, particularly based on the societies of "primitive" peoples, will parade and be judged with penetrating clarity, in order to alter our stereotypical view of their "primitivism," and to simultaneously unveil the author’s ultimate goal: to correlate primitive psychology with the psychology of the neurotic, and to discover behind ancient human institutions the cornerstone of his theory, the Oedipus complex.

“If someone manages to satisfy their repressed desire, the others in the community want the same. To suppress this temptation, the offender, whom they secretly envy, must be deprived of the enjoyment of their daring act, while punishment provides an opportunity for those who desire to commit it to justify the act through atonement. This is the foundation of the human punitive order and requires the similarity of the forbidden desires of the offender and the retributive society.”