Childhood and Society

Upon 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 s [...]

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 r [...]

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.

I definitely appreciate Erikson's sentiment. His prose is very easy to read, but also dusted with a literary flair. Psychology seems to me, at its best, to be a true literary science. I would hope that this would be an empowering statement for literature rather than a detracting statement for psychology. ( I fully realize empowering and detracting are poor words here but I can't think in the moment of a better wording.) Erikson also seems to me to be steeped in humanism rather than humanitariani [...]

I love Erikson's 8 stages of man

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 [...]

Erikson is not the most original psychoanalytic theorist but his stages of human development over the lifespan of an individual is fascinating. I have found it quite useful in my work as a clergy person, chaplain and pastoral care giver.

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 layma [...]

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 [...]

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:'Poli [...]

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 [...]

Insightful non-science, it's hard to decide where to put this kind of book in the file cabinet of my brain. The chapter on play is the most informative. The chapters on Hitler's and Gorky's youth are tedious waste of time.

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.

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.

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.

Had to read this in order to familiarize myself better with Erikson's theories. Interesting to read the original text; it made me want to know more about Erikson's biography.

just start reading~~

Thoughtful reflections on the stages of life. Some of his ideas and observations are still relevant today but most are dated.