The apprentice complex is a
psychodynamic constellation whereby a boy or youth resolves the
Oedipus complex
The Oedipus complex (also spelled Œdipus complex) is an idea in psychoanalytic theory. The complex is an ostensibly universal phase in the life of a young boy in which, to try to immediately satisfy basic desires, he unconsciously wishes to h ...
by an identification with his father, or
father figure
A father figure is usually an older man, normally one with power, authority, or strength, with whom one can identify on a deeply psychological level and who generates emotions generally felt towards one's father. Despite the literal term "father f ...
, as someone from whom to learn the future secrets of masculinity.
The term was introduced by
Otto Fenichel
Otto Fenichel (2 December 1897 in Vienna – 22 January 1946 in Los Angeles) was a psychoanalyst of the so-called "second generation".
Education and psychoanalytic affiliations
Otto Fenichel started studying medicine in 1915 in Vienna. Already ...
in 1946, and has since been developed by postmodern writers on the construction of
masculinity
Masculinity (also called manhood or manliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles associated with men and boys. Masculinity can be theoretically understood as socially constructed, and there is also evidence that some behaviors ...
.
Psychoanalytic views
Fenichel considered that the apprentice complex offered a ready mode of enjoying dependence under a guise of future independence – temporary submission to the father's authority offering a means to becoming oneself a male in time. Always
ambivalent in that the ultimate goal is to replace the father, the complex may disguise a powerful degree of hostility, and was open to several forms of pathological distortion. If meant by a paternal threat, the complex may regress to a passive identification with the mother.
The apprentice complex also appears as a facet of therapeutic training, in an
idealisation of the
training therapist as the one who knows, which then requires working through.
Cultural applications
*
Daniel Defoe, with his multiplicity of careers, his shifting political allegiances, and his prolific use of irony and masks in his writing, has been seen as a lifelong example of the apprentice complex.
* The intensity of mother-attachment in
Hindu youth has been seen as producing an apprentice complex-style 'identification through submission' to their fathers, as a compensatory force.
[P. Bansai, ''Youth in Contemporary India'' (2012) p. 240]
See also
References
{{Reflist
Psychodynamics