ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we turn our attention to a formal theoretical perspective on identity formation. This perspective is directly rooted in Erikson’s psychoanalytic formulations of ego development over the life course. In elaborating this theory, we attempt to show how it is capable of distinguishing among structure, content, and process of mental functioning. In addition, we see how it makes distinctions among ego, personal, and social identity, as well as the self. When this is done, we have at our disposal a formal theory that describes mental (personality) structures, with potential for accommodating a wide range of cultural and life-experience contents, that function through time as processes, and which can be studied from the standpoints of psychology, sociology, and social psychology.
