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Book Cover
Book
Author Badcock, C. R.

Title Oedipus in evolution : a new theory of sex / Christopher Badcock
Published Oxford, UK ; Cambridge, Mass., USA : Blackwell, 1990

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Location Call no. Vol. Availability
 W'PONDS  155.3 Bad/Oie  AVAILABLE
Description viii, 221 pages ; 24 cm
Summary "In this controversial work, Christopher Badcock puts forward a new theory of evolution based on the primacy of female choice. Dr Badcock clears away myths of what is "natural" - monogamy and heterosexualty - and then shows the evolutionary foundations for oedipal behaviour, homosexuality and penis-envy. By uniting Darwin's insights into the importance of female choice with Freud's into male sexual conflict, the author proposes an original theory of evolution with a new and revealing explanatory power. Common features of human behaviour, such as synchronization of menstrual cycles among cohabiting women, and sibling rivalry, are shown to be normal features of human physiology and psyche. Dr Badcock concludes by presenting evidence for the adaptive nature of depression, transference and mourning behaviour. This book can be read as a sequel to Christopher Badcock's "The problem of Altruism", and is also a self-contained argument in its own right. It takes the reader "beyond the pleasure principle", which Freud notoriously failed to do, and answers some of the most central questions about human sexuality and social behaviour." -- Amazon
Analysis Man Sexual behaviour Evolutionary aspects
Notes Includes index
Bibliography Bibliography: pages 211-216
Subject Freud, Sigmund, 1856-1939.
Choice (Psychology)
Evolution.
Oedipus complex.
Psychoanalysis.
Sex (Psychology)
Social evolution.
Sociobiology.
LC no. 89015032
ISBN 0631157948