A Reapplication of Erikson’s Theory of Identity Development to Female Identity Development

Abstract

My principal concern in this essay is a reapplication of Erik Erikson’s developmental theory to female identity development in terms of his psychosocial theory, evaluating the feminist application regarding women’s connectedness. Erikson describes human development in his eight-stage theory of life cycle development. Based upon this theoretical framework, Erikson poses the matter of identity in the fifth stage of identity versus identity confusion as more central than in any of the other eight stages. In his view, the process of identity formation is linear in his epigenetic principle, and thus, a sense of identity may be achieved before the next stage of intimacy versus isolation. However, some feminist researchers criticize Erikson’s identity developmental model as being conceived in terms of male development, not female development. They may raise a question of whether Erikson’s consideration of female identity development can show that women’s identity development is inferior to men’s development. They focus on women’s interpersonal relatedness or connectedness, regarding intimacy, which has been over looked as a crucial issue in female identity development. Nevertheless, on the basis of Josselson’s four pathways to identity formation, I examine that women’s connectedness may vary to some extent, regarding their identity formation and development, and that these differences can be largely derived from the discontinuity between traditional values and changing values amidst social changes. Therefore, Erikson’s suggestion for female identity development needs to be reconsidered in terms of the connection between social changes and female identity formation, on the basis of his psychosocial perspective of identity and social validation. This work must be helpful to understand women’s identity in this socio-cultural context, and even in Christianity, and to probe pastoral counseling for women on the psychological theoretical basis.