Libidinal Stage

Each libidinal stage, or developmental phase of childhood, is characterized by a specific organization of the libido linked to a dominant, organizing erotogenic zone where excitation is centered and around which fantasies are constructed. The notion of stages does not imply any strictly chronological sequence: these are "phases" or "levels of organization" that may well overlap or coincide.

Freud's earliest theorizations of the idea of stages already implied that each stage represented a specific organizational mode. From the outset, when...