Spiro challenges the argument of Bronislaw Malinowski that the matrilineal society of the Trobriand Islands produced a psychological constellation -- a matrilineal complex -- different from Freud's Oedipus complex and the generalization regarding the restrictive provenance of the Oepidus complex to which it gave rise. Spiro undertakes a reanalysis of Malinowski's data and shows that there is enough to suggest the presence of a strong Oedipus complex.

Melford E. Spirois professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of California, San Diego, where he founded the Anthropology Department in 1968. His other works includeGender and Culture, Oedipus in the Trobriands,andCulture and Human Nature.