PREFACE

'T^HE

had within

doctrine of psycho-analysis has

the last ten years a truly meteoric rise in popular

favour.

It

has exercised a growing influence over

contemporary
fact been for

literature, science,

and

art.

some time the popular craze

has in

It

of the day.

By this many fools have been deeply impressed and

many pedants shocked and put off. The present writer
belongs evidently to the

first

category, for he was for

a time unduly influenced by the theories of Freud and

Rivers, Jung,

But pedantry

and Jones.

will

remain

the master passion in the student, and subsequent

reflection soon chilled the initial enthusiasms.

This process
followed
I

by the

with

its

all

do not want, however, to

dramatic

ramifications

can be

careful reader in this little volume.

volte-face.

raise expectations of a

have never been

in

any sense

a follower of psycho-analytic practice, or an adherent

of psycho-analytic

of

theory

and now, while impatient

the exorbitant claims of psycho-analysis,

chaotic arguments

and tangled terminology,

of
I

its

must

yet acknowledge a deep sense of indebtedness to

it

for stimulation as well as for valuable instruction in

some aspects

of

human

psychology.


PREFACE

Vlll

Psycho-analysis has plunged us into the midst of

a dynamic theory of the mind,
of

it

has given to the study

mental processes a concrete turn,

has led us to

it

concentrate on child psychology and the history of

Last but

the individual.

upon us the consideration

unacknowledged

sides of

The open treatment

my

in

the
life.

and

man

in

which psycho-analysis
is

of

human

of sex

meanesses and vanities

least,

i;iot

of various

man

that

fig leaf.

one

is,

if

As a pupil and

shall not accuse

however

profoundly

of the sex impulse.

Nor

protest, righteously

above

the

and
the

and even without

pan-sexualism

of

shall I accept his

washing

is

my

hands

Man

is

views under
of the

dirt

an animal, and,

and the honest anthro-

The student's grievance

not that

it

has treated sex

openly and with due emphasis, but

As

to

he wants to study his

Freud

as such, at times unclean,

it

all

disagree with his treatment

pologist has to face this fact.

treated

shameful

follower of Havelock Ellis,

"
"

with which they are covered.

against psycho-analysis

and

most hated and reviled

is

subject without irrelevant trappings

for

unofficial

opinion of the greatest value to science,

student of

has forced

the very things for

endear psycho-analysis,

should

the

it

that

it

has

incorrectly.

to the chequered history of the present volume,

first

the rest.

two parts were written much

Many

ideas laid

down

earlier

than

there were formed

PREFACE
while

was engaged

in

ix

studying the Hfe of Melanesian

The

communities on a coral archipelago.

tions sent to

and some

me by my friend

literature with

me, stimulated

me

instruc-

Professor C. G. Seligman,

which he kindly supplied

to reflect on the

manner

in

which

the Oedipus complex and other manifestations of

the " unconscious " might appear in a

community

The actual observations

founded on mother-right.

on the matrilineal complex among Melanesians are

to

my

knowledge the

application of psycho-

first

analytic theory to the study of savage

may

such

of his

life,

and as

be of some interest to the student of man,

mind and

My

of his culture.

conclusions are

couched in a terminology more psycho-analytic than

I

should like to use now.

beyond such words

as "

Even

so
"

complex

do not go much

and

" repression ",

using both in a perfectly definite and empirical sense.

As
and

my

reading advanced,

less inclined to

conclusions of Freud,

still less

feel

more

found myself

As an anthropologist

especially that ambitious theories with

regard to savages, hypotheses of the origin of

institutions

less

manner the

those of every brand and

sub-brand of psycho-analysis.
I

accept in a wholesale

and accounts

human

of the history of culture,

should be based on a sound knowledge of primitive

hfe, as well as of the

of the

human mind.

unconscious or conscious aspects

After

all

neither group-marriage

nor totemism, neither avoidance of mother-in-law

PREFACE

nor magic happen in the " unconscious "

and cultural

solid sociological

them

facts,

and

they are

theoretically requires a type of experience

which

That

cannot be acquired in the consulting room.

misgivings are justified

all

to deal with

my

have been able to convince

myself by a careful scrutiny of Freud's Totem and

Taboo, of his Group-Psychology and the Analysis of
the Ego, of

Australian Totemism

by Roheim and

of

the anthropological works of Reik, Rank, and Jones.

My

conclusions the reader will find substantiated in

the third part of the present book.

In the last part of the book

my

positive views

have

on the origins of

tried to set forth

culture.

have

there given an outline of the changes which the animal

nature of the

human

must have undergone

species

under the anomalous conditions imposed upon

culture.

More

have

especially

it

by

attempted to show

that repressions of sexual instinct and some sort of

"

complex " must have arisen as a mental by-product

of the creation of culture.

The
is

in

last part of

my

the book, on Instinct and Culture,

opinion the most important and at the same

From

time the most debatable.

point of view at least,

an attempt

at

it is

a pioneering piece of work

an exploration

No doubt most

to be recast, but

of

of the " no-specialist's-

land " between the science of

animal.

the anthropological

my

man and

that of the

arguments

will

have

believe that they raise important

PREFACE
issues

which

by the

sooner or later have to be considered

will

and animal psychologist, as well as

biologist

by the student

xi

of culture.

As regards information from animal psychology and

biology

have had to rely on general reading.

Professors Lloyd Morgan, Herrick,

have

used mainly the works of Darwin and Havelock

Ellis

and Thorndike

Heape, Dr. Kohler and Mr. Pyecroft, and such

of Dr.

information as can be found in the sociological books

Westermarck,

of
I
I

Hobhouse,

Espinas

have not given detailed references

my

wish here to express

works

most

of instinct

habit

me

and that

my

the most

have found most

discovered too late that there

discrepancy between

and

Lloyd Morgan,

seems to

adequate and whose observations

useful.

others.

indebtedness to these

of all to those of Professor

whose conception

and

in the text

some

is

use of the terms instinct and

of Professor

Lloyd Morgan, and

our

in

respective conceptions of plasticity of instincts.

do

not think that this implies any serious divergence

of opinion.

believe also that culture introduces

new dimension

in the plasticity of instincts

and

that here the animal psychologist can profit from

becoming acquainted with the anthropologist's contributions to the problem.

I

have received in the preparation

of this

book much

stimulation and help in talking the matter over with

my

friends

Mrs.

Brenda

Z.

Seligman

of

Oxford

PREFACE

xu

Dr. R. H. Lowie and Professor Kroeber of California

University

White

Mr. Firth of

New

Washington, and Dr. H.

of

Baltimore

of the

London School

Dr. G. V. Hamilton and Dr.

S.

of

S.

of

of

E. JelUffe of

Dr. E. Miller of Harley Street

de Angulo

W.

A.

Sulhvan

of

Dr.

Professor Herrick of Chicago University,

and Dr. Ginsberg

Ogden

Zealand

Economics

New York

Mr. and Mrs. Jaime

Berkeley, California, and Mr. C.

Cambridge

K.

Professor Radcliffe-Brown of

Cape Town and Sydney, and Mr. Lawrence K. Frank

of

New York

is

based has been made possible by the munificence

of Mr.

My
this

City.

The

field-work on which the book

Robert Mond.
friend Mr. Paul

book

is

Khuner

of Vienna, to

dedicated, has helped

competent criticism which cleared

present subject as on

many

me

greatly

my

whom
by

his

ideas on the

others.

B. M.
Department of Anthropology,
London School of Economics,
University of London.
February. 1927.