Perspective

The perspective of Childhood and Society is that of its author, Erik Erikson. Erikson was born in 1902 and grew up to be a dance instructor. While a dance instructor, Erikson befriended Anna Freud, the daughter of Sigmund Freud, and then subjected himself to psychoanalysis. Having been so intrigued by psychoanalysis, Erikson then decided to become a psychoanalyst himself.

Thus, from an early period in Erikson's adult life, he was deeply influenced by Freudian thought and Freudian methods. This is clear throughout the book and this influence is universally acknowledged, even by Erikson. He is widely considered among the foremost Neo-Freudians of the mid-twentieth century.

While Freud deeply influenced Erikson, Erikson both disagreed with some of Freud's positions and extended and refined others. For instance, Erikson accepted Freud's division of the human psyche into Ego, Id and Superego. However, while Erikson thought that Freud understood the Ego as a...