ONE (with a few cases supplied from other sources) has continued to furnish the research team with eligible subjects on a volunteer basis. Although these studies are still continuing, and no material is yet ready for publication, two of the scientists, Virginia Armon, graduate student in clinical psychology (currently at work on her doctorate) and Howard Russell, graduate in educational psychology, have supplied ONE with a "Review of the Oedipal Complex", extracts from which are here included. Their summary of this well-worn subject, which has been so widely used by the incautious as a peg from which to hang theories of homosexuality, brings a good common-sense reappraisal of the whole topic and should help many whose reading in current psychological literature may have been limited to keep abreast of some current trends in the social sciences, as well as to let the general public know something about the work of ONE's Research Council.

A REVIEW OF THE OEDIPAL COMPLEX

By V. Armon & H. Russell

Freud's concept of the Oedipal complex was based on observations of a very limited number of individuals from a particular class, culture and time, and no doubt. the most convincing material from individual, himself. Nevertheless he assumed a universal validity for his theory. The general nature of this phase of development, and the preeminent importance of this nuclear conflict, applied to man everywhere. If universal, then why not innate? To account for the universality, Freud spun another theory: there are primal phantasies which are a phylogenic possession, memory traces of the experiences of former generations. "Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny," and in the ontogenetic process calls forth those relevant memories which give form and direction to Oedipal strivings. He developed an ethnological fantasy, that of the primal horde as the origin of society.

Let us trace the stark outlines of Freud's theory of psychosexual development, particularly as it applies to the male. Freud postulated a libidinal drive or energy, which included all strivings for somatic pleasure sensations, but differed from otner physiological drives in its modifiability of expression. In the infant, incipient sexual gratifications are connected with the taking of nourishment, with the accompaniment of pleasurable physical gratification from stimulation of the entire body but particularly the erogenous zones. Aside from breatning, a possible exception, all biological needs and their pleasure components must be consumated in interaction with the environment, principally through the intermediating person of the mother. As the child develops the ability to have a concept of the mother as an object aside from himself, she becomes for him the principal object through which he seeks relief of his tensions and gratification of his needs. As mental and physical development proceed to around the

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4th and 5th year of life he becomes more aware of the social environment and distinguishes other rivals to uninterrupted access to the mother. Moreover the libidinous strivings take on a more familiar sexual coloring with the increasing intensification and selective identification of genital sensations. Now it is possible for his wishes to become focused upon genital gratification from the mother, and to better comprehend the privileged position of the father, whom he then wishes to displace. Such wishes arouse fear of punishment from his rivals and are doomed to disappointment, so that the child must work out some sort of adjustment to the inevitable frustration. The way in which he works out this adjustment is of crucial importance in the development of his concept of himself, his relations with people of his own sex and of the opposite sex, and the degree of anxiety and guilt with which he must struggle.

It has come to pass that Freud's concepts are household words, and while glib verbal usage does not always mean real understanding, there is no doubt that the Freudian movement culminated in a real revolution in many ideas and attitudes. While "Oedipal Complex" has become a byword, what is the status of this most controversial of all Freudian concepts? One can notice that in psychoanalytic fields the term Oedipal complex is rarely employed, while much discussion is still given to the Oedipal phase or conflict. The former term has too specific and narrow a meaning, while the latter is a useful way of referring to a vast and intricate constellation of psychological events. Most essentially these are concerned with the working out of relationships with the parents, which are the prototypes of all future adjustments to people, to the relinquishing of the omnivorous egocentric demands of infancy for a socialized adjustment to the real world, and to the organization of the

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