Chapter 2, Foundations in Observation Summary and Analysis

All too often psychologists treat social dynamics and the effects of external social elements like ethnicity and historical era on identity as 'surface' effects. Erikson objects on the grounds such a focus prevents synthesis with the social sciences. Chapter 2 includes some observations that try to bridge the gap.

After a brief discussion of Freud, Erikson explains how an identity can be frustrated and disintegrated when its role in a group is changed. He and a colleague observed this phenomenon in the personalities of Sioux Indians being reeducated by American civil servants. Their egos were frustrated because they could not integrate steps towards a tangible future for their social group. Erikson calls an 'ego identity' the psychological aspect of a person that integrates steps towards a goal within a particular social reality. While personal identity concerns...