Childhood and Society (Paperback)

~ (Author) "IN EVERY field there are a few very simple questions which are highly embarrassing because the debate which forever arises around them leads only to..." (more)
Key Phrases: supernatural providers, psychic stimulus, incorporative mode, New York, John Henry, World War (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The landmark work on the social significance of childhood. The original and vastly influential ideas of Erik H. Erikson underlie much of our understanding of human development. His insights into the interdependence of the individuals' growth and historical change, his now-famous concepts of identity, growth, and the life cycle, have changed the way we perceive ourselves and society. Widely read and cited, his works have won numerous awards including the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.

Combining the insights of clinical psychoanalysis with a new approach to cultural anthropology, Childhood and Society deals with the relationships between childhood training and cultural accomplishment, analyzing the infantile and the mature, the modern and the archaic elements in human motivation. It was hailed upon its first publication as "a rare and living combination of European and 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.
.

About the Author

A winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, Erik H. Erikson was renowned worldwide as teacher, clinician, and theorist in the field of psychoanalysis and human development.

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co. (September 17, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039331068X
• ISBN-13: 978-0393310689
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #188,582 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

71 of 81 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic and food for thought, April 2, 2000

By A Customer

Read it just because it's a classic or read it because it has interesting things to say for today. Read it because it's so well written. The narrative just flows, and before you know it you've absorbed some pretty important concepts.

Erikson addresses nothing less than the role of psychology in the world, and the role of childhood in our social worlds. It's a combination of the clinical, the social, and the developmental, a combination of psychology and history. Case studies are presented and large themes are addressed.

"...we are also forced to recognize a universal blind spot in the makers and interpreters of history," writes Erikson, "... they ignore the fateful function of childhood in the fabric of society" (p. 404).

Whether or not you agree with all Erikson says, you will find it food for thought.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't worry, You are only having an 'Identity- crisis'., May 9, 2006

By	Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

This book published in 1950 was Erikson's breakthrough book, the first one by which he became known to a wide popular audience. Certain of the ideas formulated in this book have become part of the language of our general culture, most notably the concept of 'identity- crisis'.
At the heart of the theoretical framework of this work is Erikson's conception of eight- stages of life.
The first of these stages he calls the 'oral- sensory'.It involves the conflict between basic trust and mistrust.
The second is called the muscular- anal involving the confluct between Autonomy and Shame and Doubt.
The third is the Locomotor Genital involving the conflict between Initiative and Guilt.
The fourth is the Latent involving the conflict between Industry and Inferiority.
The fifth is Adolescence where the Identity- Crisis comes into play at a time of Role- confusion.
The sixth is Young Adulthood in which Intimacy is in conflict with Isolation.
The seventh is Adulthood where Generativity conflicts with Stagnation.
The final is 'Maturity' or "Old Age' where Despair threatens Ego Integrity.
In this work Erikson brings case - history, comparitive anthropological data in showing how the human personality is transformed during the person's lifetime also through its encounters with Society . A pioneering work of great importance.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Childhood and Society" Erik H. Erikson, May 14, 2007

By	Steven H. Weinograd "Brooklinepsych" (massachusetts) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

An Uber-Classic--Required reading for anyone in psychology. No! make that anyone, period.