War, Crime and the Covenant: By Géza Róheim, Ph.D., with an introduction by A. A. Brill, M.D. Journal of Clinical Psychopathology Monograph Series No. I. Monticello, N. Y.: Medical Journal Press, 1945. 160 pp.

Róheim reviews the significance of the Oedipus situation in the structure of societies. Society is based upon identification. In a review of ceremonial covenants in various societies, it is demonstrated that some form of restoration of the original 'dual-unity' of mother and child is achieved. Despite the relationship of social bond to original biological bond between mother and child, Róheim feels the anthropological evidence to be conclusive that paternal introjection, or 'superego proper', is the basis of human society.

In warfare among primitive tribes, evidence is cited to demonstrate the warrior's identification with his victim which threatens him with a fate not unlike that of his vanquished enemy, and the necessity for the projection of aggression outside the group. This projection serves to strengthen the threatened unity of the warring group (as in our recent history).

The phallic significance of war is emphasized in a description and interpretation of mythical versions of the blood feud. Here the libidinization of aggression is viewed as 'an attempt to counterbalance or temper pure destrudo'. The author then jumps to an analogical explanation of the origin of exogamy as dependent upon