ABSTRACT
That the male Oedipus complex, even granting that it might exist somewhere, is a phenomenon restricted to Western-type societies is one of the most widely accepted generalizations in anthropology. Its wide acceptance is the singular achievement of Bronislaw Malinowski, who, as every (anthropological) schoolboy knows, demonstrated that the male Oedipus complex is not found in the Trobriands and, by extrapolation, in other societies whose family structures do not conform to that of the Western type. This chapter provides a detailed examination of Malinowski's thesis and summarizes the contours of the Oedipus complex. It then deals primarily with Freud's description of the psychological constellation since it is Freud's paradigm with which Malinowski is concerned. The Oedipus complex not only begins in childhood, but typically is also resolved in childhood, usually by the beginning of the sixth year, when, because of the fear of castration, "the child's ego turns away from the Oedipus complex".
