This article places Erik Erikson's model of ego development against the ground of modern culture. It finds that this model fails to see the relationship between individual crises and the modern postmetaphysical world view, where the meaning of life is in question. The article suggests that Erikson's description of crisis and ego integration remains sound, but that this process should be tied to the specific problems associated with living in modern society. The article ends by returning to Erikson's original insight: that we need to locate the life cycle in the social-cultural setting in which it unfolds. This will make the study of biography at once a psychological analysis and a cultural critique.
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