The psycho-analytic study of the familyFlugel, J. C. (John Carl)
Science
The psycho-analytic study of the family
Flugel, J. C. (John Carl)
Families; Marriage; Parent and child; Psychoanalysis
If, as thus seems probable, we have in Totemism a peculiar form of
displacement of the feelings originally directed to the parents (and
especially the father), it is not surprising that Totemism should be
frequently accompanied by manifestations of the other, and sexual, aspect
of the Œdipus complex. Such manifestations are, in effect, not far to
seek and are in all probability to be found in the system of Exogamy
which almost invariably accompanies the institution of Totemism. Whether
or not Exogamy is co-eval with Totemism (some authorities think that
it is of later origin), there is now a very fair measure of agreement
that Exogamy has (consciously[174] or unconsciously) been created as a
means of avoiding incest. If this view is correct it would appear that
the connection between Totemism and Exogamy (a connection the nature of
which had for long been anything but clear) is due to the fact that the
two institutions have respectively come into being as the result of the
operation of two closely-joined psychic factors, namely the two principal
elements of the Œdipus complex. Just as in the individual mind, the
presence in any high degree of one of these elements tends to bring about
the presence of the other, so too in societies, the manifestations of the
one element tend to be closely correlated with the manifestations of the
other[175].
In touching on the subject of Exogamy, we have come very near to the
most fundamental sociological problems connected with the main theme of
this book. To these problems and to the whole question of the meaning of
Exogamy we shall return in a later chapter. For the moment we must leave
them, in order to pass on to the consideration of certain other aspects
of the influence upon religion of psychic tendencies connected with the
family.
[Sidenote: The ambivalent attitude towards the father as reflected in
religion]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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