FOUNDATIONS OF A PSYCHOANALYTIC SOCIAL-PSYCHOLOGY - NEO-ERIKSONIAN PROPOSITIONS REGARDING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PSYCHIC STRUCTURE AND CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS

This paper takes up Erik Erikson′s call to develop "a social psychology which is psychoanalytically sophisticated" (1968, p. 24). It begins the process of building the foundation of a "psychoanalytic social psychology" by drawing on Erikson′s theory of psychic structure and going beyond his theory to develop empirically testable propositions regarding how the psyche is related to culture. These propositions constitute starting points for cross-cultural explanations regarding the basic relationships between cultural institutions and psychic development. © 1993 Academic Press. All rights reserved.