Childhood and Society

Childhood and Society is a 1950 book about the social significance of childhood by the psychoanalyst Erik H. Erikson.

Summary

Erikson discusses the social significance of childhood, introducing ideas such as the eight stages of psychosocial development and the concept of an "identity crisis".

Reception

Childhood and Society was the first of Erikson's books to become popular. The critic Frederick Crews calls the work "a readable and important book extending Freud's developmental theory." The Oxford Handbook of Identity names Erikson as the seminal figure in "the developmental approach of understanding identity".