What do you think?
Rate this book
Childhood and Society
Childhood & Society deals with the relationships between childhood training & cultural accomplishment, analyzing the infantile & the mature, the modern & the archaic elements in human motivation. It was hailed upon its first publication as 'a rare & living combination of European & American thought in the human sciences'--Margaret Mead, The American Scholar
Translated into numerous foreign languages, it has gone on to become a classic in the study of the social significance of childhood.
Translated into numerous foreign languages, it has gone on to become a classic in the study of the social significance of childhood.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1950
208 people are currently reading
4095 people want to read
About the author
Erik H. Erikson
35 books279 followersErik Erikson was a German-born American developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst known for his theory on psychosocial development of human beings. He may be most famous for coining the phrase identity crisis. His son, Kai T. Erikson, is a noted American sociologist.
Although Erikson lacked even a bachelor's degree, he served as a professor at prominent institutions such as Harvard and Yale.
Although Erikson lacked even a bachelor's degree, he served as a professor at prominent institutions such as Harvard and Yale.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
Read
August 19, 2019Upon completion I offered up a heartfelt prayer - thank God that's all over, not that it was bad, just Meh, it more or less managed to ascend to the dizzy heights of 'this might be interesting' by about a third of the way through and then went downhill from there.
The problem is the age old one of my expectations, if I take the title and a quote every adult, whether he is a follower or a leader, a member of a mass or of an elite, was once a child. He was once small. A sense of smallness forms a substratum in his mind (p364) from late in the book then one looks to see what the author will have to say about the influence of past childhoods on contemporary society ( in the 1950s). He's not really up to that, and when he does discuss groups of children there are never numbers and the evidence of other experts doesn't seem to agree with what he sees or is told. When he breaks out and looks at the Lakota, he does present a compelling picture of how their child rearing processes functioned to produce the hunters and warriors that their society wanted/required. But it does not really work for the girls, instead we get a kind of hand wavy, 'well the girls have got to be good helpers for the boys and they were', but then the days of hunters and warriors were long over by the time that he was having conversations with elders - so his picture is based on what people were telling him on the basis of what they had been told about the good old days, of prime important here to his argument is unrestricted access to the maternal breast well into childhood, while other experts in the text cite an average age of weaning of between 12 to 18 months not quite the unrestricted access of which he sang. The impression that Erikson is a conjuror playing fast and loose, and it becomes hard to shake the impression that one can see the cards up his sleeve and the rabbit in his hat. He is happy though and suddenly his explorations reminded me of The Uses of Mythology, Freudianism is perhaps the most literary of studies and Erikson reads his patients as one might a novel, and in this book tries to do something similar with societies. This is about the forging of the personality in the age of myth. Childhood takes place in a kind of fantasy, suspiciously Jungian archetypal figures of mother or father aim to shape the child who rebels or reverts in suspiciously mythic ways. Oedipus may wrestle with Rhea, but Erikson doesn't tread a path from how this gets us to the adult society filled with adults harbouring their childhood fears.
More problematic is that the default is he, at times I felt that boyhood and society, with society understood as the social component of male life, might have been a better title, my feeling was that girls were mostly tacked on, but then the role of the woman in Erikson's psychology is to have babies, psychological health is enjoying that and finding coitus with a man in a manner calculated to produce babies at the core of her everyday pleasures, men get in addition to coitus get to have social roles however their anxieties are meant to be caused by childhood toilet training rather than role tensions although Erikson does wonder at one stage how psychology interacts with economics in producing society, but as I said, he approaches being interesting at times.
He suggests at one stage that the Adam and Eve story is really about the loss of access to the maternal breast resulting when the teeth erupt and the baby bites ungenerously upon the mother, and this is when he is happiest - dealing with human experience as myth . Great flood stories are very widespread among human cultures , expulsion from Paradise due to biting stories however...
Overall he is happiest down in the myths and one can see here how Freud is a wonderful toy for looking at books or films, to discuss the USA he chooses John Henry, he likes Mein Kampf as excellently mythological, likewise a Soviet film based on Maxim Gorky's autobiography.
Aside from this one is left with the case studies which in a kind of 'I may have a log in my eye but I can still laugh at the splinter in yours' are amusing - the American man who didn't drink, swear or smoke, and who felt that guns were abhorrent and so as you may have guessed, joined the army, admittedly as a junior kind of medic, unsurprisingly he has a breakdown in a combat situation , a spell specialising in diseases of the rich leads him to a girl who evacuates in to her bed during the night , I'm not sure any more if the problem was that her father had banned her from watching him shave in the mornings, or if it was her evil mother changing her nannies again. A boy had the opposite problem in which case Erikson intervenes to explain with diagrams that little boys can't be pregnant, this allows a happy event and everybody is satisfied - once the toilet is unblocked. Enough toilet humour.
I had the sense though of several cultural threads coming together and getting knotted up before flowing out to no doubt influence a generation or two of readers in ways I am not yet aware of
The problem is the age old one of my expectations, if I take the title and a quote every adult, whether he is a follower or a leader, a member of a mass or of an elite, was once a child. He was once small. A sense of smallness forms a substratum in his mind (p364) from late in the book then one looks to see what the author will have to say about the influence of past childhoods on contemporary society ( in the 1950s). He's not really up to that, and when he does discuss groups of children there are never numbers and the evidence of other experts doesn't seem to agree with what he sees or is told. When he breaks out and looks at the Lakota, he does present a compelling picture of how their child rearing processes functioned to produce the hunters and warriors that their society wanted/required. But it does not really work for the girls, instead we get a kind of hand wavy, 'well the girls have got to be good helpers for the boys and they were', but then the days of hunters and warriors were long over by the time that he was having conversations with elders - so his picture is based on what people were telling him on the basis of what they had been told about the good old days, of prime important here to his argument is unrestricted access to the maternal breast well into childhood, while other experts in the text cite an average age of weaning of between 12 to 18 months not quite the unrestricted access of which he sang. The impression that Erikson is a conjuror playing fast and loose, and it becomes hard to shake the impression that one can see the cards up his sleeve and the rabbit in his hat. He is happy though and suddenly his explorations reminded me of The Uses of Mythology, Freudianism is perhaps the most literary of studies and Erikson reads his patients as one might a novel, and in this book tries to do something similar with societies. This is about the forging of the personality in the age of myth. Childhood takes place in a kind of fantasy, suspiciously Jungian archetypal figures of mother or father aim to shape the child who rebels or reverts in suspiciously mythic ways. Oedipus may wrestle with Rhea, but Erikson doesn't tread a path from how this gets us to the adult society filled with adults harbouring their childhood fears.
More problematic is that the default is he, at times I felt that boyhood and society, with society understood as the social component of male life, might have been a better title, my feeling was that girls were mostly tacked on, but then the role of the woman in Erikson's psychology is to have babies, psychological health is enjoying that and finding coitus with a man in a manner calculated to produce babies at the core of her everyday pleasures, men get in addition to coitus get to have social roles however their anxieties are meant to be caused by childhood toilet training rather than role tensions although Erikson does wonder at one stage how psychology interacts with economics in producing society, but as I said, he approaches being interesting at times.
He suggests at one stage that the Adam and Eve story is really about the loss of access to the maternal breast resulting when the teeth erupt and the baby bites ungenerously upon the mother, and this is when he is happiest - dealing with human experience as myth . Great flood stories are very widespread among human cultures , expulsion from Paradise due to biting stories however...
Overall he is happiest down in the myths and one can see here how Freud is a wonderful toy for looking at books or films, to discuss the USA he chooses John Henry, he likes Mein Kampf as excellently mythological, likewise a Soviet film based on Maxim Gorky's autobiography.
Aside from this one is left with the case studies which in a kind of 'I may have a log in my eye but I can still laugh at the splinter in yours' are amusing - the American man who didn't drink, swear or smoke, and who felt that guns were abhorrent and so as you may have guessed, joined the army, admittedly as a junior kind of medic, unsurprisingly he has a breakdown in a combat situation , a spell specialising in diseases of the rich leads him to a girl who evacuates in to her bed during the night , I'm not sure any more if the problem was that her father had banned her from watching him shave in the mornings, or if it was her evil mother changing her nannies again. A boy had the opposite problem in which case Erikson intervenes to explain with diagrams that little boys can't be pregnant, this allows a happy event and everybody is satisfied - once the toilet is unblocked. Enough toilet humour.
I had the sense though of several cultural threads coming together and getting knotted up before flowing out to no doubt influence a generation or two of readers in ways I am not yet aware of
September 13, 2010
If you're only familiar with the condensed version of Erikson described in undergraduate psychology and child development classes (the stages of psychosocial development, with their neat pairings of opposed forces) then actually reading his defining book may be a surprise. In this mixed bag of personal case studies, theoretical wanderings, and psychological biography, he approaches Freudian theory as if it were a large stalled vehicle, takes it apart to reveal some unusual components, and then reassembles the parts into something that looks a lot like the original but sometimes goes sideways instead of forward. I get the feeling that consistency was not his main interest, and I'm glad, since watching such an inquisitive mind move in so many directions at once is better than any number of little charts.
December 7, 2013
We were assigned to read this book for the Human Growth and Development course taught by the Psychology Department at Union Theological Seminary in New York during the second semester of 1975/76. While I very much enjoyed Erikson's Young Man Luther and Gandhi's Truth, I found this rather boring.
July 29, 2011
I love Erikson's 8 stages of man
December 28, 2012
Erikson has a very intriguing way of writing about psychology and sociology. It can be extremely dense, but some of his conclusions are so profound and eloquently said. This book is separated into case studies that vary from the Sioux Tribe to Hitler's childhood. His obsession with anal functioning and a dated view of sexuality was a bit annoying. I found his discussion about how the somatic, ego, and society affect the human neurosis and psychology very interesting. He loves the idea of play as healing, feels the idea of "bosses" will degrade our American identity, and in general truly "sees" everyone. I enjoyed this book and it created many fun conversations with my mate about identity, intimacy, and the generativity stage that we are in now.
"The only healthy American way to write about America for Americans is to vent a gripe and to overstate it."
"The only healthy American way to write about America for Americans is to vent a gripe and to overstate it."
October 4, 2020
What convergence can we see between the Sioux child's orality and tribe's ethical ideals? We have mentioned generosity as an outstanding virtue required in Sioux life. A first impression suggests that the cultural demand for generosity received its early foundation from the privilege of enjoying the nourishment and the reassurance emanating from unlimited breast feeding. The companion virtue of generosity was fortitude, in Indians a quality both more ferocious and more stoical than mere bravery. It included an easily aroused quantity of quickly available hunting and fighting spirit, the inclination to do sadistic harm to the enemy, and the ability to stand extreme hardship and pain under torture and self-torture. Did the necessity of suppressing early biting wishes contribute to the tribe's always ready ferocity? If so, it cannot be without significance that the generous mothers themselves aroused a "hunter's ferocity" in their teething infants, encouraging an eventual transfer of the infant's provoked rage to ideal images of hunting, encircling, catching, killing and stealing.
We are not saying here that their treatment in babyhood causes a group of adults to have certain traits -- as if you turned a few knobs in your child-training system and you fabricated this or that kind of tribal or national character. In fact, we are not discussing traits in the sense of irreversible aspects of character. We are speaking of goals and values and of the energy put at their disposal by child-training systems. Such values persist because the cultural ethos continues to consider them "natural" and does not admit of alternatives. They persist because they have become an essential part of an individual's sense of identity, which he must preserve as a core of sanity and efficiency. But values do not persist unless they work, economically, psychologically, and spiritually; and I argue that to this end they must continue to be anchored, generation after generation, in early child training; while child training, to remain consistent, must be embedded in a system of continued economic and cultural synthesis. For it is the synthesis operating within a culture which increasingly tends to bring into close-knit thematic relationship and mutual amplification such matters as climate and anatomy, economy and psychology, society and child training.
We are not saying here that their treatment in babyhood causes a group of adults to have certain traits -- as if you turned a few knobs in your child-training system and you fabricated this or that kind of tribal or national character. In fact, we are not discussing traits in the sense of irreversible aspects of character. We are speaking of goals and values and of the energy put at their disposal by child-training systems. Such values persist because the cultural ethos continues to consider them "natural" and does not admit of alternatives. They persist because they have become an essential part of an individual's sense of identity, which he must preserve as a core of sanity and efficiency. But values do not persist unless they work, economically, psychologically, and spiritually; and I argue that to this end they must continue to be anchored, generation after generation, in early child training; while child training, to remain consistent, must be embedded in a system of continued economic and cultural synthesis. For it is the synthesis operating within a culture which increasingly tends to bring into close-knit thematic relationship and mutual amplification such matters as climate and anatomy, economy and psychology, society and child training.
November 17, 2020
Man, what a disappointment. Erik Erikson has been on my list of psychology-classics-I-feel-I-must-read for a while now, ever since reading George Vaillant's brilliant Triumphs of Experience - The Men of the Harvard Grant Study three years back (Vaillant worked with and updated Erikson's stages of life). Not only that, Erikson's name is mentioned in every 5 or 6 psychology books I read so I was sure I was in for a treat. Jesus Christ what a letdown.
Confusing, long-winded, uninteresting and possibly even wrong. His idea was to compare the childhood of 5 different peoples around the globe and correlate them with their cultural practices (Russians are swaddled when infants therefore prone to vary between stillness and outbursts of violence when grown up, and so on). But I mean even that could be written in an engaging fashion but sadly it was not what Erik decided to do.
PS: I now understand why the author wrote in the preface to the second edition that he had deleted some phrases that he could no longer understand some decades later upon rereading.
Confusing, long-winded, uninteresting and possibly even wrong. His idea was to compare the childhood of 5 different peoples around the globe and correlate them with their cultural practices (Russians are swaddled when infants therefore prone to vary between stillness and outbursts of violence when grown up, and so on). But I mean even that could be written in an engaging fashion but sadly it was not what Erik decided to do.
PS: I now understand why the author wrote in the preface to the second edition that he had deleted some phrases that he could no longer understand some decades later upon rereading.
October 24, 2025
An insightful insight into the connections between childhood and society, although slightly dated Erikson has commentary on areas that are still very interesting today.
March 7, 2024
Childhood and Society originated in Erik Erikson’s clinical practice of psychoanalysis of young patients. Starting with his medical practice, Erikson embarked on the systematic study of how both healthy and unhealthy children mature. Because psychotherapy involves the intersection of somatic process, ego process, and societal processes, he made use of the disciplines of biology, psychology, and the social sciences.
Childhood and Society was organized into four parts (Erikson’s ‘conceptual itinerary’):
1. The biologic basis of psychoanalytic theory, Freud’s timetable of libido development, and its relation to the ego and to society
2. Socialization of growing children, for which the author studied school children and several cultural groups using cultural anthropology methods; all in addition to his clinical practice with patients.
3. Ego pathology and normal ego function – how individual personality mediates between physical development and societal expectations - how much psychopathology appears as immature or regressive versions of ‘normal’
4. End of childhood and entry into adulthood – including the important concept of identity formation; this required extending his psychosocial stages beyond the puberty or adolescence limits of Freud’s psychosexual stages.
Freud observed that most of his psychiatric patients were infantile and regressed in their sexuality. Freud’s psychoanalytic method focused on free association (including dreams and hypnosis) of the individual patient’s past history, many of which were largely about childhood sexual trauma, especially the hysterias which were a big part of Freud’s practice. Erikson borrowed much of Freud’s terminology including the internal struggle between one’s wishes or id with one’s internal conscience or super-ego. The developing personality or ego was the ground where these conflicts were resolved. Each psychosocial stage involved a separate conflict resolution.
Freud used the idea of libido to describe sexual energy. Before puberty, libido energy could be used in non-sexual ways such as breastfeeding, toilet training, and learning to stand and walk. Erikson borrowed from Freud the language of body zones (organ: oral, anal, genital), and modes (incorporative, incorporative-biting, retentive, eliminative, intrusive).
Erikson developed from his observations and studies of cultural modalities. Embryology provided the metaphor of epigenesis or the stepwise development through stages with appropriate sequence and timing. Importantly, Erikson grafted onto Freud’s scheme tasks involved in the progressive socialization of the child and young adult.
Freud had said that the study of dreams was the ‘royal road’ to understanding the adult unconscious. Erikson suggests the study of children at play is another ‘royal road’, this one to understand the infantile ego’s efforts to synthesize a unified personality. Erikson observed daydreaming as well as nocturnal dreams. Erikson observed the struggle to find equilibrium (ego) between what we might like to do (id) and what we think we ought to do (conscience or super-ego). In looking at cultures, Erikson observed the mythological or religious pressures brought to bear on what we wish for, and what we think we ought to do. He studied how the maturing ego is influenced by societal or communal pressures to extend Freud’s psychosexual theory to a psychosocial understanding.
“In between the id and superego the ego dwells… To safeguard itself, the ego employs defense mechanisms… These are unconscious arrangements which permit the person to postpone satisfaction, to find substitutions, and otherwise arrive at compromises between id impulses and superego compulsions…. The ego is victorious when it restricts anxiety … The ego is an inner institution evolved to safeguard the order within individuals upon which all outer order depends.” Erikson developed his conceptual scheme of eight sequential ages of man, each with its developmental conflict to be resolved:
• Infancy: basic trust versus mistrust
• Toddler: autonomy versus shame or doubt
• Preschool age: initiative versus guilt
• School age: industry versus inferiority
• Adolescence: identity versus identity confusion
• Young adulthood: intimacy versus isolation
• Middle age: generativity versus stagnation
• Old age: integrity versus despair
Erikson pointed out how traditional Freudian psychosexual stages focused on childhood and young adulthood until the subject was mature enough to marry and start a family: “For psychoanalysis has consistently described the vicissitudes of instincts and of the ego only up to adolescence at which time the rational genitality was expected to absorb infantile fixations and irrational conflicts or to admit them to repeat performances under manifold disguises. The main recurrent theme thus concerned the shadow of frustration which falls from childhood on the individual’s later life – and on his society…”
Accordingly, an important part of Childhood and Society, and Erikson’s lifework generally, was to extend the psychosocial stepwise maturation process to include tasks of adulthood, starting with adolescence and the formation of personal identity. “In this book (Childhood and Society) we suggest that to understand either childhood or society, we must expand our scope to include the study of how societies lighten the inescapable conflicts of childhood with a promise of some security, identity, and integrity. In thus reinforcing the values by which the ego exists societies create the only condition under which human growth is possible.” Ultimately Erikson extended the scheme to include additional components of healthy adult maturation.
The text Erikson wrote was meant to supplement the psychiatric education of physicians, psychologists, and social workers. I recommend Childhood and Society to anyone interested in human growth and development, particularly about identity and personality.
Childhood and Society was organized into four parts (Erikson’s ‘conceptual itinerary’):
1. The biologic basis of psychoanalytic theory, Freud’s timetable of libido development, and its relation to the ego and to society
2. Socialization of growing children, for which the author studied school children and several cultural groups using cultural anthropology methods; all in addition to his clinical practice with patients.
3. Ego pathology and normal ego function – how individual personality mediates between physical development and societal expectations - how much psychopathology appears as immature or regressive versions of ‘normal’
4. End of childhood and entry into adulthood – including the important concept of identity formation; this required extending his psychosocial stages beyond the puberty or adolescence limits of Freud’s psychosexual stages.
Freud observed that most of his psychiatric patients were infantile and regressed in their sexuality. Freud’s psychoanalytic method focused on free association (including dreams and hypnosis) of the individual patient’s past history, many of which were largely about childhood sexual trauma, especially the hysterias which were a big part of Freud’s practice. Erikson borrowed much of Freud’s terminology including the internal struggle between one’s wishes or id with one’s internal conscience or super-ego. The developing personality or ego was the ground where these conflicts were resolved. Each psychosocial stage involved a separate conflict resolution.
Freud used the idea of libido to describe sexual energy. Before puberty, libido energy could be used in non-sexual ways such as breastfeeding, toilet training, and learning to stand and walk. Erikson borrowed from Freud the language of body zones (organ: oral, anal, genital), and modes (incorporative, incorporative-biting, retentive, eliminative, intrusive).
Erikson developed from his observations and studies of cultural modalities. Embryology provided the metaphor of epigenesis or the stepwise development through stages with appropriate sequence and timing. Importantly, Erikson grafted onto Freud’s scheme tasks involved in the progressive socialization of the child and young adult.
Freud had said that the study of dreams was the ‘royal road’ to understanding the adult unconscious. Erikson suggests the study of children at play is another ‘royal road’, this one to understand the infantile ego’s efforts to synthesize a unified personality. Erikson observed daydreaming as well as nocturnal dreams. Erikson observed the struggle to find equilibrium (ego) between what we might like to do (id) and what we think we ought to do (conscience or super-ego). In looking at cultures, Erikson observed the mythological or religious pressures brought to bear on what we wish for, and what we think we ought to do. He studied how the maturing ego is influenced by societal or communal pressures to extend Freud’s psychosexual theory to a psychosocial understanding.
“In between the id and superego the ego dwells… To safeguard itself, the ego employs defense mechanisms… These are unconscious arrangements which permit the person to postpone satisfaction, to find substitutions, and otherwise arrive at compromises between id impulses and superego compulsions…. The ego is victorious when it restricts anxiety … The ego is an inner institution evolved to safeguard the order within individuals upon which all outer order depends.” Erikson developed his conceptual scheme of eight sequential ages of man, each with its developmental conflict to be resolved:
• Infancy: basic trust versus mistrust
• Toddler: autonomy versus shame or doubt
• Preschool age: initiative versus guilt
• School age: industry versus inferiority
• Adolescence: identity versus identity confusion
• Young adulthood: intimacy versus isolation
• Middle age: generativity versus stagnation
• Old age: integrity versus despair
Erikson pointed out how traditional Freudian psychosexual stages focused on childhood and young adulthood until the subject was mature enough to marry and start a family: “For psychoanalysis has consistently described the vicissitudes of instincts and of the ego only up to adolescence at which time the rational genitality was expected to absorb infantile fixations and irrational conflicts or to admit them to repeat performances under manifold disguises. The main recurrent theme thus concerned the shadow of frustration which falls from childhood on the individual’s later life – and on his society…”
Accordingly, an important part of Childhood and Society, and Erikson’s lifework generally, was to extend the psychosocial stepwise maturation process to include tasks of adulthood, starting with adolescence and the formation of personal identity. “In this book (Childhood and Society) we suggest that to understand either childhood or society, we must expand our scope to include the study of how societies lighten the inescapable conflicts of childhood with a promise of some security, identity, and integrity. In thus reinforcing the values by which the ego exists societies create the only condition under which human growth is possible.” Ultimately Erikson extended the scheme to include additional components of healthy adult maturation.
The text Erikson wrote was meant to supplement the psychiatric education of physicians, psychologists, and social workers. I recommend Childhood and Society to anyone interested in human growth and development, particularly about identity and personality.
October 2, 2025
The stages of development coined by Erickson make a whole lot of sense, but reading the "research" surrounding the theories soured my reverence. I found the stories of observing children at play and how it can better help understand the effect of parenting/homelife to be worthwhile, but a lot of the inferences made by Erickson seem nonsensical, unprovable, and hinge too heavily on Freudian psychology. There's way too much speculation and not enough sound "science".
MS: Given the same set of toys, boys are seen consistently building enclosed, phallic structures, and girls build open, friendly spaces. Sad.
MS: Given the same set of toys, boys are seen consistently building enclosed, phallic structures, and girls build open, friendly spaces. Sad.
Read
March 25, 2021When I started reading Childhood and Society, it was to learn more about Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development. I wanted to learn more about how children develop and the stages that they must go through to become an adult – at least according to Erikson. In addition to more about the stages, I gained a glimpse into his world. Born in 1902 in Germany, he had important thoughts on both Hitler and Russia.
Read more
Read more
August 19, 2025
As previous reviews have alluded to, the first 1/3 of this book is fascinating - after that, it becomes rather meandering and dull. Anyone who has taken an undergraduate psychology course has heard of Erikson’s stages of development, however learning about these stages in-depth and how he developed the stages was very interesting. Once Erikson starts focusing on the different Native American tribes and their child rearing techniques, it becomes convoluted and less engrossing. Overall, a worthy read for anyone interested in one of the great figures in psychology.
July 17, 2025
I think Erik is often dismissed in his work and how prolific and relevant his teachings are in relation to early childhood education as he is heavily reflected upon in most education track pathways. Which is unfortunate, as he is a cornerstone in the topic of child development and several psych and sociological theory. I wish we engaged with him more in depth as opposed to the basic and over explained aspects that r routinely covered.
Read
December 21, 2025- El desarrollo psicosocial de Eric Erikson. El diagrama epigenético del adulto. (Bordignon, Nelso Antonio. Revista Lasallista de Investigación, vol. 2, núm. 2, julio-diciembre, 2005, pp. 50-63).
- Subjetividades contemporáneas. Acerca de los hábitos de crianza, algunas insistencias. (Ana María Fernández, Mercedes López, Enrique Ojám, Graciela Ana Eyheremendy y Mariana Sánchez, VI Congreso Internacional de Investigación y Práctica Profesional en Psicología).
- Subjetividades contemporáneas. Acerca de los hábitos de crianza, algunas insistencias. (Ana María Fernández, Mercedes López, Enrique Ojám, Graciela Ana Eyheremendy y Mariana Sánchez, VI Congreso Internacional de Investigación y Práctica Profesional en Psicología).
Read
June 19, 2022this was one of several early childhood development theorists' texts that were 'suggested' reads for my uni Library Services for Children and Young Adults subject, and while i certainly skipped a l o t of the content, i definitely got what i needed out of this for my extended essay (the eight ages of man).
glad i picked this one up from my uni library before someone else did lmao x
glad i picked this one up from my uni library before someone else did lmao x
November 8, 2018
I read this book when I was getting my degree in Behavioral Science, and found it to be one of the books I referred to most often with regard to childhood development. I still find it to be quite relevant.
February 25, 2025
Hay que primero entender que Erikson le sigue a Freud. Sus análisis son un seguimiento y mejoramiento de una teoría ya existente, vio elementos que no le entraron en la cabeza y decidió entonces agregar lo suyo propio, ampliando y mejorando una teoría.
November 28, 2020
A classic in developmental psychology and stage-theory. Dated, with some problematic aspects, but undeniably influential and ground-breaking.
December 1, 2025
Erikson's stages of development helped me look back at my own life with more compassion and empathy. I could see where I got stuck in certain stages. It showed me what work was still available for me to address as I continue to move forward, step by step.
April 23, 2021
Have to re-read it.
May 21, 2016
It took me an awfully long time to get through this book. It was thick, dense, and difficult. I give it a low rating ultimately because I found that Erikson's prose was difficult to understand and somewhat obscure, although I have no doubt he knew what he was talking about, and he knew it well.
There is copious and detailed information about developmental stages, from a purely psychoanalytic standpoint. The psychoanalist will no doubt find it fascinating, and a must-read in the field. For a layman, someone interested in the human psyche and its stages, it is a bust, simply because it flies off over his head. I took a great deal of notes from this book, as I wanted to apply his ideas to my work as a Montessori teacher of young children. By the end of the book I was exhausted, and my notes capture a fraction of his overall ideas and philosophy.
The book is unique I think, because it centers around cultural tendencies for psychic development. A case in point is Erikson's lengthy description of the American psyche, circa 1940 or 1950, and the effect of motherhood on the men of that era as they grow into adulthood. This was fascinating to me, although hopelessly outdated and masculine-gender specific to a contemporary reader. No doubt a more experienced reader could find links to the current American situation, but I did not.
Recommended only for experienced and professional psychoanalists and their work. As such, perhaps quite highly recommended...
There is copious and detailed information about developmental stages, from a purely psychoanalytic standpoint. The psychoanalist will no doubt find it fascinating, and a must-read in the field. For a layman, someone interested in the human psyche and its stages, it is a bust, simply because it flies off over his head. I took a great deal of notes from this book, as I wanted to apply his ideas to my work as a Montessori teacher of young children. By the end of the book I was exhausted, and my notes capture a fraction of his overall ideas and philosophy.
The book is unique I think, because it centers around cultural tendencies for psychic development. A case in point is Erikson's lengthy description of the American psyche, circa 1940 or 1950, and the effect of motherhood on the men of that era as they grow into adulthood. This was fascinating to me, although hopelessly outdated and masculine-gender specific to a contemporary reader. No doubt a more experienced reader could find links to the current American situation, but I did not.
Recommended only for experienced and professional psychoanalists and their work. As such, perhaps quite highly recommended...
May 30, 2025
A landmark work in developmental psychology and psychoanalysis that broadened our understanding of human growth beyond Freud’s early theories. Published in 1950, this book introduces Erikson’s influential theory of psychosocial development, framing identity formation as a lifelong process influenced by both internal drives and social interactions.
Erikson integrates biological, psychological, and social dimensions, arguing that childhood is not just a stage of isolated personal development but a period deeply embedded in societal and cultural contexts. His eight stages of psychosocial conflict - ranging from trust vs. mistrust in infancy to integrity vs. despair in old age - offer a nuanced roadmap of challenges individuals face at different life phases.
Erikson’s writing is accessible yet rich with clinical insight, drawing on his work with children, adolescents, and adults. The concept of identity crisis, which has since become a cornerstone in psychology and popular culture, originates here and provides a powerful lens to understand adolescent struggles and adult development alike.
However, some readers might find certain sections dated, reflecting the mid-20th century cultural context in which Erikson wrote. Additionally, while the stages are broadly applicable, critics sometimes argue that the model can be overly linear or culturally biased toward Western norms.
Erikson integrates biological, psychological, and social dimensions, arguing that childhood is not just a stage of isolated personal development but a period deeply embedded in societal and cultural contexts. His eight stages of psychosocial conflict - ranging from trust vs. mistrust in infancy to integrity vs. despair in old age - offer a nuanced roadmap of challenges individuals face at different life phases.
Erikson’s writing is accessible yet rich with clinical insight, drawing on his work with children, adolescents, and adults. The concept of identity crisis, which has since become a cornerstone in psychology and popular culture, originates here and provides a powerful lens to understand adolescent struggles and adult development alike.
However, some readers might find certain sections dated, reflecting the mid-20th century cultural context in which Erikson wrote. Additionally, while the stages are broadly applicable, critics sometimes argue that the model can be overly linear or culturally biased toward Western norms.
July 4, 2008
This book will probably feel more like an ethnography than an exploration of psychology to many people who read itbook today. I find it definitely a good read despite being an old text. I expected it to be like a very basic and outdated foundational psychology course, but I was surprised at how much of Erikson's insight is relevant to our times. Of course, the field has learned more since Erikson's time, but his writings are still surprisingly progressive.
I would suggest reading this book after already reading a more recent psychological text. That way it's easier to discern which of Erikson's writings are outdated and which can still be applicable today.
I would suggest reading this book after already reading a more recent psychological text. That way it's easier to discern which of Erikson's writings are outdated and which can still be applicable today.
December 13, 2008
Erikson opened up classical psychoanalysis to cultural influences and constraints when he published this work in 1952. It has since remained a classic of psychosocial literature. In this book Erikson proposes his general theory of the eight stages of psychosocial development across the life style (a reinterpretation and extension of Freud's five stages). He presents his work using the psychoanalytic terms and perspective, which might be a turn off to you if you dislike that school. However, the theory is certainly novel and this book gives the best overview. Erikson draws on his experience working with two American Indian cultures to illustrate the basic principles of his theory.
January 14, 2015
I found this book fascinating and contained a wealth of knowledge and a range of insights from Erikson's clinical experience and his vast cultural and sociological expertise. He covered a wealth of topics, including childhood anxiety, apathy in Amercian Indians, confusion in war veterans and arrogance in young Nazis. I enjoyed reading about Fanny the Shaman, Jean and her mother and JIm the Sioux. He comments that his book is a subjective book, a conceptual itinerary.
An interesting quote is:'Political systems have thrived on the provocation of manifold and morbid doubt.'
Another quote struck me: 'They the never-silent metronome of routine into the impressionable baby...'
An interesting quote is:'Political systems have thrived on the provocation of manifold and morbid doubt.'
Another quote struck me: 'They the never-silent metronome of routine into the impressionable baby...'
September 2, 2019
Read the danish translation from 61. Fascinating read here more than 50 years later. I inherited the book from my father who used it for his teacers education. I am in no way an expert, and I am not sure it should be read by the uninitiated, but it was none the less and interesting peak into psychoanalysis (and the 50s). I read it in many sittings, and it might have been better to read it more attentively, so I did not gain a lot from it, apart from the fact that it seems a bit outdated and seems to neglect the cultural aspects of gender and how they play.
August 18, 2022
It is incredibly difficult to write about the solutions to problems outlined in this book. He is definitely the American psychologist and he definitely had a profound effect on psychology in this country. It is even more difficult to try and say whether it was a “good” reading or not. Scientifically it is abhorrent. I still wish that he would be right, however. Maybe I’m dogmatic.
June 11, 2012
The "Eight Stages of Man" chapter is really a must-read. It represents a certain way of thinking about the psyche that is very powerful and will make sense to anyone who's thought about developmental issues.
January 26, 2015
This book has been profound on the interpretation of human life, since childhood, in a psychoanalytic perspective. Laden with psychological jargon but I've learnt so much of anxiety, apathy and taming the id. A subjective book but interesting nonetheless.
March 3, 2015
This book proposed a lot of interesting topics and correlations. Some I agree with, some struck me as being very profound, and others I didn't agree with. I still think it's a good book for any psychology student.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews