E.G. ERIKSON'S THEORY OF IDENTITY: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY ANALYSIS IN THE CONTEXT OF COMPARATIVE LITERARY STUDIES
Abstract
The present article offers a comprehensive interdisciplinary analysis of Erik H. Erikson's theory of identity, examining its foundational principles, historical context, and relevance across multiple academic disciplines. The study investigates Erikson's epigenetic model of psychosocial development, tracing the evolution of identity formation through the eight stages of human life. Erikson's contributions are situated within broader theoretical frameworks, including comparative analysis with Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic model and Erich Fromm's social-character theory. The research examines the sociological dimension of identity through the lens of Henri Tajfel and John C. Turner's Social Identity Theory, alongside classical sociological perspectives articulated by Émile Durkheim, Peter L. Berger, Thomas Luckmann, George Herbert Mead, and Erving Goffman. The philosophical underpinnings of identity are explored through Edmund Husserl's phenomenology and Ivan Ilyin's cultural-philosophical thought. The article also incorporates contributions of Russian-language scholars, including Leokadia Drobizheva, Vladimir Yadov, and Lidiya Schneider, whose research enriches the interdisciplinary understanding of identity in the post-Soviet academic context. The findings illuminate the multidimensional nature of identity construction and are discussed in the context of comparative literary studies, demonstrating the relevance of Erikson's theoretical framework for analysing literary representations of identity in multicultural texts, with particular reference to the works of N. Scott Momaday and T. Kaipbergenov.
Keywords
identity, psychosocial development, Erikson's epigenetic model, ego-identity, social identity theory, comparative literary studies, interdisciplinary analysis, cultural identity, psychoanalysis, identity crisis, self-concept, narrative identity, socialization, group identity, literary identity.How to Cite
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