ABSTRACT
Following on from the re-evaluation of the concept of neurosis, this chapter traces the history of the concept of the Oedipus complex and examines its current state. Though observation of the changes in Western society over the last forty or fifty years or so calls into question the universality of the structure of the Oedipus complex, it does not invalidate many of the elements of which it is composed. Their evolution is observed, described and commented on here, including from the point of view of the psychoanalyst at work.
