Social Sciences Group
Question:
oidipuselektra
Student
College - Senior
How do the oedipus complex show or manifest itself in not western societies ?
Answers:
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ecalamia Teacher
High School - 11th GradePosted by ecalamia on Friday November 6, 2009 at 3:20 AMOne way of approaching this question, the one with which I am most familiar from my years of schooling, is through colonialism. The best source for this sort of reading is Anti-Oedipus by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari. You might also check out Edward Said's Freud and the Non-European.
Overall, D&G argue that the Oedipus complex is a form of social regulation of subjectivities imposed by colonial authorities. In colonial settings it is complicated by the figures of colonial repression: the father is mediated by the colonial cop who beats him etc. etc. This is important for two reasons:
(1) This reveals the essence of Oedipus as a form of social regulation--read: not nature.
(2) The testimony of psychologists (i.e. Franz Fanon) in colonial contexts shows that what D&G call 'the oedipal triangle' Daddy-Mommy-Me is strictly correlated to particular social institutions and ways of life. This radically undermines the Freudian claim to universality for Oedipus.
Overall, the Oedipus complex shows itself as a technology of social regulation in Non-western societies in the colonial context.
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