Fifty Years Since “Identity: Youth and Crisis”: A Renewed Look at Erikson’s Writings on Identity

This introductory analysis presents the content of the special issue entitled “Fifty
years since ‘Identity: Youth and Crisis’: A renewed look at Erikson’s writings on
identity.” The authors of the nine thought pieces that compose this special issue
were invited to direct the attention of readers of Identity to aspects of Eriksonian
thought that they believe have been left undeveloped or underdeveloped. A
number of powerful and relevant topics were raised in this collection. Authors
call upon identity scholars to engage more fully with the relational, contextual,
interactional, and cultural components of Erikson’s theory, including analysis of
identity development within the context of important relationships; the advent
of the Internet as a context for identity development; and greater acknowledgement
of the impact of forces of marginalization and oppression on identity
development. In addition, articles in this special issue explore difficult or problematic
aspects of identity development that have been relatively neglected in
previous research, including negative identity, identity crisis, and pseudospeciation.
A deeper analysis of epigenetic processes of development is offered, as is an
analysis of Erikson’s implication of the unconscious in identity development.
Together this collection of essays provides a framework for moving research
based in Eriksonian theory forward.