Identity: Youth and Crisis

“To review the concept of identity means to sketch its history.”

Erikson states his purpose in collecting and updating the essays in Identity: Youth and Crisis in the first sentence of Chapter 1, which also serves as the book’s prologue. Not only does he see his concept of identity as part of a continuum stretching back to Sigmund Freud’s theories, but he believes constant changes in society and history change the meaning of the terms used in psychoanalysis.

“Everybody has heard of ‘identity crisis’ and it arouses a mixture of curiosity, mirth, and discomfort.”

Erikson bemoans the popularization of a phrase he coined, the “identity crisis.” It has been taken over by the media in headlines such as “The Identity Crisis of Africa.” On the other hand, it has been so overused that the word “crisis” in the phrase no longer means a catastrophe but, as he intended, a turning point that must be passed for an individual to move on to their next developmental stage.

“Thus we have learned to ascribe a normative ‘identity crisis’ to the age of adolescence and young adulthood.”

Erikson frequently pairs the word “normative” with “identity crisis.” His point is to stress that the crisis is a perfectly normal part of adolescence. All young people must pass through the identity crisis in this stage that is brought about by the interaction of social, intellectual/emotional, and genital maturation and the roles offered to the individual by society.