Leticia Franieck and Michael Günter: On Latency

On Latency: Individual Development, Narcissistic Impulse, Reminiscence, and Cultural Ideal

In psychoanalytical terms, latency is a developmental period in which psychosexual maturation pauses. It starts after the oedipal phase and ends when puberty begins. It is an emotional pause between the dramas of childhood and the storms of adolescence. Its meaning has always been tied to building defences and repressing drives. These two forces work together, and they bring about cognitive development. This does not sound like a ‘lively’ emotional time, and it does not sound ‘colourful’ either. Instead, it sounds like a ‘black and white emotional period’. Another point about the definition of latency has still not been properly discussed or answered. This point refers to Freud’s question (Freud, 1925: 37n). He asked whether the latency period is an innate universal phenomenon tied to the long biological immaturity that marks human development. Or he asked whether it is limited to repressive cultures. In these cultures, adults suppress infantile and immature sexual behaviour in order to keep it under control. We do not accept this period as a ‘black and white emotional period’. We wanted to do two things. We wanted to find one possible answer to this late question from Freud. And we wanted to better understand psychic development during this time through intercultural comparison. For this reason, we carried out an empirical study of children from different countries, aged 6–11 years. We explored their socio-cultural identity, emotional organization, and social adaptation. We also looked at the quality of the child’s identification with parental figures and studied the children’s representations of their family relationships. We took particular interest in identity formation, including the culturally-shaped quality of identification with parental figures, both maternal and paternal. Our hypotheses concerned cultural differences and the transmission of cultural values during the middle latency period. The cross-cultural research that we read supported these hypotheses. As a consequence, a number of relevant questions arose about the child’s emotional development during latency. These questions call in particular for an elaboration of psychoanalytic concepts for this period.

Freud’s 5 Stages of Psychosexual Development

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Our book, On Latency, studies how people build personal and group identity. It looks at why this matters for children aged 6–8 years in the middle of latency. It also looks at features of cultural pattern formation and seeks to better understand differences in social adaptation. To this end, Chapter 1 introduces the motive for latency and our questions. This chapter covers the origin of the book. In Chapter 2 we provide an overall definition of the latency period. We cover its importance for social identity development and its relationship to cultural preservation. We see this period as a necessary stage in human development. In Chapter 3, we present some classical and central concepts. These include the ‘Oedipus complex’, ‘identification’, ‘narcissism’, ‘ideal ego’, ‘ego ideal’, and ‘superego’. These concepts are closely allied to one another. They also play a great role in the psychological inner world development of the child at the latency period. We also go through Freud’s theory and understanding in chronological order. And we discuss some psychoanalytic frameworks that have taken Freud’s work further. These include Klein, Bion, Rosenfeld, Sandler, and others. Our purpose is to highlight the points of agreement with Freud’s theory, despite their differences. Then, in Chapter 4, we introduce group psychology. We look at how the concepts of ‘ideal ego’, ‘ego ideal’, ‘narcissism’, ‘superego’, and ‘cultural ideal’ connect to one another. Above all, we explore how they relate to cultural identity. Chapter 5 is less theoretical and more empirical than the previous chapters. We briefly explain the empirical research study, including its methodology, results, and hypotheses. We also discuss how we can interpret our data in order to answer our questions. In Chapter 6, we link our empirical data with the different perspectives elaborated on in the previous chapters. These perspectives are the theoretical concepts we discussed earlier. We present our ideas and new understanding of some aspects of latency. We propose a new understanding of the Oedipus complex resolution. Moreover, we introduce two new concepts. The first is cultural ideal. We define it as an agency that replaces the ego ideal. The second is narcissistic impulse reminiscence. This is an unconscious reminiscence of the ‘dual orientation of narcissism’ (primitive ego function). One orientation aims at achieving individuality. The other aims at fusion. We finish by addressing the limitations of the study and providing a conclusion.

The writing process is quite similar to the development of the child. At the beginning, like a baby, one does not have many words to express thoughts. Symbolization is still poor, and ‘fantastic ideas’ invade one’s mind. Slowly, one can give names to some thoughts. One puts them together into phrases. The child is now able to ‘talk’. At this creative moment, thoughts turn into wings. It is possible to fly with them. But like a child who is learning to walk, one will fall down. A time will come when it is necessary to land on the ground. Whatever happens, and however long it takes, one should not give up the idea of writing. One should not give up the idea of sharing their thoughts. After all, the reader’s thoughts, criticisms, and ideas will turn into new flights. So please give us the chance to fly again with your wings. We would be delighted to receive thoughts from our readers. We would welcome a discussion of the ideas proposed in this book. This book is currently on special offer at £9.99 from Karnac Books website (incl. free worldwide delivery).