means knowing whom you are and how you fit in to the rest of the society. It requires that you take all you’ve learned about life and mold it into a unified self-image, one that your community finds meaningful. There are a number of things that make things easier: First, we should have a mainstream adult culture that is worthy of the adolescent’s respect, one with good adult role models and open lines of communication. Further, society should provide clear rites of passage, certain accomplishments and rituals that help to distinguish the adult from the child. In primitive and traditional societies, an adolescent boy may be asked to leave the village for a period of time to live on his own, hunt some symbolic animal, or seek an inspirational vision. Boys and girls may be required to go through certain test of endurance, symbolic ceremonies, or educational events. In one way or another, the distinction between the powerless, but irresponsible, time of childhood and the powerful and responsible time of adulthood, is made clear. Without these things, we are likely to see role confusion, meaning an uncertainty about one’s place in society and the world these things. When an adolescent is confronted by role confusion, Erikson said he or she is suffering from an identity crisis. In fact, a common question adolescents in our society ask is a straight-forward question of identity: “Who am I?”One of Erikson’s suggestions for adolescence in our society is the psychosocial moratorium. He suggests you take a little “time-out”. If you have money, go to Europe. There is such a thing as too much “ego identity”, where a person is so involved in a particular role in a particular society or subculture that there is no room left for tolerance. Erikson calls this maladaptive tendency fanaticism. A fanatic believes that his way is the only way. Adolescents are of course known for t...
