Erik Erikson and the 1960s: “Reflections on the Dissent of Contemporary Youth”

Abstract:The papers collected in this series were originally presented at the 83rd Oral History Workshop during the American Psychoanalytic Association’s meetings in February of 2021. The topic of the workshop, “The Social Voices of Psychoanalysts: The 1960s and 1970s”, was chosen because over the last several years, members of the psychoanalytic community had been debating the question of the role of psychoanalysts in a deeply divided political, social and cultural environment governed by an individual that many, both analysts and non-analysts, viewed as a dangerous and unstable leader. John Martin-Joy presented Erik Erikson’s “Reflections on the Dissent of Contemporary Youth” (1970), and Daniel H. Jacobs reviewed Andrew Peto’s “On Crowd Violence: The Role of Archaic Superego and Body Image” (1975). Their papers were discussed by Nancy Chodorow drawing on her experiences as member of this generation as well as her training in both sociology and psychoanalysis.