REFLECTIONS ON THE LIFESPAN MODEL FOR ERI DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

A critique of the ERI Lifespan model is offered. The ERI Lifespan Model appears to place undue weight on factors inherited rather than socialized. It also appears to lean toward a political frame of refence favoring a cultural-nationalist orientation. The Model does not explain how a significant percentage of youth categorized as ER at birth, nevertheless, achieve an identity centered on something other than race or ethnicity, as adults. Overall, the model appears to theorize ERI in a manner than can be considered prescriptive and largely set at birth. The critique suggests that most ERI households raise youth with strong personality traits and a positive attitude toward life. Such positivity means that positive people will eventually make positive social identity choices and this positivity does not require choosing an ERI orientation. That the majority of ERI youth select a social identity centered by one’s ERI community is explained by contextual factors rather than inherited predispositions.