ABSTRACT
This chapter brings up a number of relevant questions for a psychoanalytic understanding of some aspects of latency development which have not been focused on very much in psychoanalysis up to this point. In particular, to Freud’s question as to whether the latency period is an innate universal phenomenon connected to the prolonging of biological immaturity which characterizes human development or whether it is restricted to repressive cultures in which the infantile and immature sexual behaviour is subjected in order to be kept under control. The features of cultural identity formation, alongside the influences of cultural patterns, at the middle of latency were addressed. Establishing links between empirical data, psychoanalytical conceptual elaboration, and social psychology, opened up a new perspective on latency development. These perspectives in author's view can contribute to a further elaboration of psychoanalytic concepts for this period.
