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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.
The first edition of the [[Three]] Essays on the Theory of [[Sexuality]] (1905d) made mention only of the [[oral]] and [[anal]] erotogenic zones, as contrasted with the sexuality of [[puberty]] and [[adulthood]], which was dominated by the [[genital]]. Subsequently Freud's earliest theorizations would flesh out the theory of the idea stages of the libido when, between 1913 and 1923, he introduced the oral, anal, and [[phallic]] [[pregenital]] stages already implied that which preceded the establishment of the [[genital stage]]. In seeking to define the organizational modes of pregenital sexuality, Freud viewed matters from two standpoints. The first of these considered the successive phases of [[psychic]] organization in [[terms]] of the prevailing erotogenic zone: The one, in each [[case]], upon which excitation focused and around which fantasies were constructed (Perron-Borelli, 1997). The second perspective stressed the libidinally-cathected [[object]] and the [[temporal]] sequence in accordance with which the [[subject]] passed in turn through the various phases of [[autoerotism]], [[narcissism]], and [[homosexual]] or heterosexual object-choice. Each libidinal stage represented was characterized by a [[particular]] type of object-[[relationship]], so that [[incorporation]] typified the [[oral stage]] while retention-[[expulsion]] was specific organizational modeto anal [[eroticism]] ([[Abraham]], 1924). This approach showed how the object, just as much as the erotogenic zone, played an organizing [[role]]. The idea of libidinal stages (the terms phase and level of organization are more widely used today) has on occasion encouraged simplistic [[interpretations]] that over-emphasize the supposed dates of onset and precise [[order]] of the stages. It is [[impossible]] to overstate the fact that for [[psychoanalysis]] no strict sequencing is required: "The temporal ordering of these stages certainly implies a hypothesized priority of one phase with respect to the next, but the hypothesis in question is inferred from the [[analysis]] of [[adults]]. . . . In other [[words]], all the stages survive as strata embedded in [[instinctual]] impulses and [[unconscious]] fantasies" (Perron and Perron-Borelli, 1994). Freud himself wrote that the different phases of libidinal development could "overlap one another [or] be [[present]] alongside one another" (1940a, p. 155). In fact, the chief benefit of the theory of stages is that it helps us to [[construct]] a temporal framework in which to locate those effects of [[anticipation]] and deferred [[action]], which in turn allow us to [[understand]] the [[mechanism]] of repression. JEAN-FRANÇOIS RABAIN[[Bibliography]] * Abraham, Karl. (1927). A short study of the development of the libido, viewed in the light of mental disorders. In Selected papers on psycho-analysis. London: Hogarth. (Original work published 1924) * Freud, Sigmund. (1905d). From Three essays on the outsettheory of sexuality. SE, when7: 123-243. * ——. (1940a).An outline of psycho-analysis.SE, 23: 139-207.
[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
[[Category:Terms]]
[[Category:Concepts]]
[[Category:Enotes]]
[[Category:Sexuality]]
[[Category:Culture]]
[[Category:Development]]
