ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author presents the alternative, critical conception of the Oedipus myth, as developed, for example, by S. H. Foulkes, the founder of group analysis. His conception was strongly implicit in his Introduction to Group Analytic Psychotherapy. Psychoanalytic anthropology argues that the universal character of the Oedipus complex strives to locate the triangular oedipal structure in an array of cultures, including those in which the couple-based familial structure does not exist. If one perceives the act of circumcision as a sublimation of the binding narrative, it is also plausible to see it as an indication and clue to the social unconscious of the Israeli people, which sanctifies the sacrifice of boys in Israel's wars, for the sanctity of the country and its holy land. Despite significant developments in psychoanalytic theory, for example, such as found in the work of Klein, Winnicott, Kohut, and others, the paradigm of the Oedipus complex remained unchanged.
