Part IV, Youth and the Evolution of Identity, Chapter 11, Conclusion, Beyond Anxiety Summary and Analysis

Erikson argues that Childhood and Society is an attempt to reconcile historical and psychology methodologies by dealing with them jointly and as having joint laws. We can find this unity in the child. The smallness of the child forms a background in the mind of each person and shapes his or her challenges in life.

Conscience arises during this time and an immature conscience endangers man's maturity and work. Childhood fear follows men throughout their lives as does learning to see some aspect of bodily function as evil, shameful or unsafe.

Erikson then summarizes some of the basic spheres, but also emphasizing the need to separate anxiety and fear. Fear is apprehension about specific dangers, but anxiety is a...