Jung maintained that the image existed in the collective unconscious of the
Greek storytellers as well as in those of psychotic patients and, therefore, inthe collective unconscious of us all.
Jung was probably the most prolific writer among the neo-Freudians.
Like Freud, he eventually managed to touch on most aspects of human be-havior. His views on religion are reviewed later in this chapter. Although
most of the neo-Freudians wrote of personality in less mysterious and more
tangible terms than Freud, Jung ’s thinking took him in the opposite direction.
Perhaps the unique flavor of his theory is what has kept his writings so popu-
lar for so many years.
ERIK ERIKSON
In the summer of 1927, a young artist wandering about Europe took a job in
a school established for the children of Sigmund Freud’ s patients and friends.
This artist, Erik Homburger, who never received a university degree, became
Erik Homburger Erikson
1902 –1994
It is difficult to imagine a life
filled with more identityissues than the one handedto Erik Erikson. Reflectingback on his formative years,
Erikson observed that “it
seems all too obvious …that
such an early life would
predispose a person to a severe identity crisis ”(1975,
p. 31). Indeed, Erikson ’s struggle with his identity led
him to behavior he would later identify as somewhere
between neurotic and psychotic. Yet these struggles
also provided him with a keen insight into the problemsassociated with identity, particularly among
adolescents and young adults.
Erik was born in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1902.
His Danish father abandoned the family before Erikwas born. Three years later his mother married aJewish physician, Theodor Homburger, and for manyyears told her son that Dr. Homburger was his realfather. It was not until he was an adolescent thatErikson learned the truth —that his birth was the result
of an extramarital affair, a fact Erikson kept secret untilhe was 68 (Hopkins, 1995). Erikson ’s identity was
further confused by his physical features. Althoughliving in a Jewish family, he retained most of thephysical features of his Scandinavian father —tall,blond hair, blue eyes. “Before long, I was referred to as
‘goy’in my stepfather ’s temple, ”he wrote, “while to
my schoolmates I was a ‘Jew’”(1975, p. 27). World
War I broke out during Erik ’s early adolescence,
leaving the boy with torn feelings of loyalty between
Germany and his growing identity as a Dane.
Erik’s need to find his own identity erupted upon
graduation from public school. His stepfather pushedmedical school, but Erik resisted. He decided insteadthat he was an artist and spent the next few yearswandering about Europe. His travels eventuallybrought him to Vienna and into contact with Anna
Freud, Sigmund ’s daughter and a noted psychoanalyst
herself. Except for a Montessori teaching credential, his
psychoanalytic training with Anna Freud was the onlyformal education he received after leaving home.
Somewhere during these years, Erik changed his nameto Erik Homburger Erikson, obviously reflecting hischanging sense of identity.
Erikson fled the rise of the Nazis in 1933 and
settled in Boston. He held positions with numerousuniversities, including Harvard, Yale, the University ofCalifornia at Berkeley, and the University ofPennsylvania. His first book, Childhood and Society ,
was not published until 1950, when Erikson was nearly50 years old. Like the mature adults he wrote about,Erikson continued his personal and professionaldevelopment well into the later years of his life.Ted Streshinsky/Historical/CORBISErik Erikson 105