[Today's taboos--tomorrow's problems].

Societies need common taboos for their self-preservation. They can be regarded as social defence mechanisms and are therefore unconscious or dissociation phenomena. These qualities may explain many social incompatibilities and, as well as this, the inability of societies to introduce rationally-founded social changes. From this perspective, the decline of ethnic entities can be understood. Marking taboos may therefore be seen as a key to understanding social processes and social standstills. Here the present political developments in Germany serve as an example.