On Symbolism and Symbolisation : Routledge : 9780815357209 : 0815357206 : 21 Sep 2018 : In On Symbolism and Symbolisation: The Work of Freud, Durkheim and Mauss, Éric Smadja returns to the end of the 19th century and explores how the concepts of symbolism and symbolisation have been discussed among theorists, and how this discussion has developed and revolutionised the human sciences as we know them today. Uniquely, he connects three key thinkers of psychoanalysis, sociology and ethnology ? Freud, Durkheim and Mauss ? and discusses how their diverse epistemological paths blend and have consequently shaped our representation of humanity, society and culture in the 20th and 21st centuries. In this innovative work, Smadja provides a complete biographical journey of these three influential founders, beginning with a dedicated chapter on Freud, followed by Durkheim and then Mauss. He explains each of their revolutionary creations ? Freud's psychoanalysis, Durkheim's French school of sociol