By Once I was listening to a group of children trying to deal with
a member who was being quite obstinate about not permitting _
anyone else to play with his toys. As the hostility level was increas-
ing, peace was restored by a wise old 10-year—oId who said, “l—le’s
not usually like this; it’s just a phrase he’s going through.”
lf she was a bit off in her jargon, our young neighborhood
sage was correct in her understanding of human development.
People do go through phases and stages when they experience
changes in their mood, needs, aspirations, values, skills, motiva-
tions, and other important human characteristics. We have all
heard comments like, “l—Ie’s a new man since he started working,”
and “She isn’t the same person I married twenty years ago.”
People do change over the course of their lives and work careers,
and in some fairly predictable ways. In this chapter we will examine
some of these stages. `
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We may see a person’s life cycle as a series of stages charac-
terized by changing patterns of developmental tasks, career con-
cerns, activities, values, and needs, which emerge as he ages
and passes through various age ranges.
But we should re-
member, as Cain observes,
In spite of the observed ambiguity of age status and of the abundance of
descriptive data on the subject, supplied by historians, anthropologists, demog-
raphers, researchers in social welfare, and others, sociologists have yet
to devote more than passing attention to these data and to their implications
for the total social structure.
(This is as applicable to psychologists as well as sociologists.)
_UnIike the life stages of childhood and youth, which are well-
defined by age and institutional role transitions (e.g., the start
of grade school, high school graduation, driving age, university
graduation, legal age, marriage, etc.) the important changes in
the adult years are harder to delineate . Marriage and
parenthood are often the last institutionalized status passages expe-
rienced until retirement; thus a person tends to pace his own life
cycle in terms of the life cycle of his children and the total family
unit. In fact, a person’s social behavior is probably related more
to his stage in the family life cycle than to his age.
Cain has said, “To be the father of a teen—age daugh-
ter elicits certain behavior patterns, whether the father be 30 or
70 years of age”
The person’s stage in his or her work career is another factor
that can strongly affect (and is likewise affected by) social behavior
and attitudes; this variable may not be closely tied to age either.
A lawyer or manager who is on the first permanent job following
professional training (law school or business school) will probably
be concerned about advancement and establishing a reputation
among colleagues, whether he or she is 25 or 45. (However, the
45-year-old who started a career in that occupation at 25 will
probably have quite a different set of concerns, which we will
describe later.)*
Erikson’s Theory of Life Stages
From clinical psychology, part of Erik Erikson’s theory ofthe eight
stages of the life cycle can be logically applied to the study of
working careers. (The first four of these stages—oraI, anal, genital,
and latency—describe childhood and therefore are not relevant
here.) Erlkson believes that each stage is characterized by a partic-
ular developmental task which the person must work through be-
fore advancing fully into the following stage.
ln the first stage of youth, adolescence, the central develop-
mental task is achieving a sense of ego identity
The main danger at this stage is role confusion, the opposite of
a clear identity. Although the person may experience confusion
about his sexual identity, “in most instances, however, it is the
inability to settle on an occupational identity which disturbs young
people”. It is a time of searching for values and
role models and testing various possible identities, a time of think-
ing about one’s own ideology and purpose in life.
The next stage is young adulthood, during which the develop-
mental task is to develop intimacy and involvements. This includes,
but is not limited to, interpersonal intimacy; it entails learning how
to let oneself become ego—involved with another person, group,
organization, or cause.
Thus, the young adult, emerging from the search for and the insistence on
identity, is eager and willing to fuse his identity with that of others. He is
ready for intimacy, that is, the capacity to commit himself to concrete affilia-
tions and partnerships and to develop the ethical strength to abide by such
commitments, even though they may call for significant sacrifices and com-
promises
The danger at this stage is that the person may be so afraid of
losing or compromising his new-found sense of identity and au-
tonomy that he shuns involvements and develops a deep sense
of isolation and self-absorption. To describe these issues further,
Erikson referred to Freud’s famous reply when asked what he
thought a normal person should be able to do well: “L/eben und
arbelten ” (love and work).
lt pays to ponder on this simple formula; it gets deeper as you think about
it. For . . . when he [Freud] said love and work, he meant a general work-
productiveness which would not preoccupy the individual to the extent that
he loses his right or capacity to be a genital and a loving being
One of the behaviors that occurs in this stage as a sign of
intimacy is finding and committing oneself to a mate. Also, close,
lifelong friendships areestablished with those with whom one
interacts intensively during young adulthood—college chums,
roommates, army buddies, co-workers, etc. This is also a time
when young people test out their occupational identities and go
to work, creating involvements in and commitments to work orga-
nizations, bosses, and co-workers.
The seventh stage described by Erikson is adulthood, during
which the person deals with issues concerned with the generation
of that which is of lasting value to other people—his contributions
to following generations, and thus in a sense his antidote to
mortality.
Generativity, then, is primarily the concern in establishing and guiding the
next generation, although there are individuals who, through misfortune or
because of special and genuine gifts in other directions, do not apply this
drive to their own offspring. And, indeed, the concept of generativity is meant
to include such more popular synonyms as productivity and creativity, which,
however, cannot replace it
In the work setting, generativity may be achieved through such
things as building organizations; developing creative theories, dis-
coveries, or products that will endure; coaching and sponsoring
the development of younger colleagues; and teaching and guiding
students. Generativity is really an outgrowth of the preceding
stages (as is the case for any other stage): once the person has
developed a sense of identity and has committed it to a cause,
person, or organization, the next stage is to accomplish or pro-
duce something as a result of that commitment. The opposite of
generativity is what Erikson calls stagnation, which means stand-
ing still, producing nothing. Stagnation also carries the connota-
tion of decay, not just the absence of growth.
The eighth and final stage of development is maturity, during
which the fully developed person acquires a sense of ego integrity
(versus despair). This is the feeling that the person is satisfied
with his life, with his choices and actions. He sees it as meaningful,
and is willing to leave it as it is.
[Ego integrity] is the ego’s accrued assurance oi its proclivity for order and
meaning. It is a post-narcissistic love of the human ego—not of the seIf—as
‘ an experience which conveys some world order and spiritual sense, no matter
how dearly paid for. It is the acceptance of one’s one and only life cycle
as something that had to be and that, by necessity, permitted of no substitu-
tions …. In such final consolidation, death loses its sting.
The lack or loss of this accrued ego integration is signified by fear of
death: the one and only life cycle is not accepted as the ultimate of life.
Despair expresses the feeling that the time is now short, too short for the
attempt to start another life and to try out alternate roads to integrity
One characteristic of a cycle is that it has no beginning or
end, in a sense; the completion of one cycle feeds into the begin-
ning ofthe next.T Erikson ends his discussion of the eight stages
by showing strikingly the connection between the end and the
beginning of lite:
Webster’s Dictionary is kind enough to help us complete this outline in a
circular fashion, Trust (the first of our ego values) is here defined as “the
assured reliance on another’s integrity,” the last of our values. I suspect
that Webster had business in mind rather than babies, credit rather than
faith, But, the formulation stands, And, it seems possible to further paraphrase
i the relation of adult integrity and infantile trust by saying that healthy children
i will not fear life if their elders have integrity enough not to fear death
A person must achieve a satisfactory resolution of the issues
in one stage before he can deal competently with the issues at
the next stage. Thus, it is possible for a person’s development
to become arrested, in a sense, at any given stage. lf a person
were “hung up” at the identity level, for example, he may remain
plagued with doubts about his career choice, shifting from job
to job and perhaps career to career, long after his contemporaries,
who had settled on a career and an employer, were advancing
within their firms. According to this theory, a person cannot
achieve a full, deep commitment (intimacy) to an organization,
person, or cause until his identity is pretty well-defined; similarly,
he cannot attain higher-stage experience such as creative produc-
tion (generativity) or ego fulfillment (integrity).
The work of Erikson is based upon his clinical, anthro-
pological, and historical observations, and has not really been
tested with experimental and statistical methods. However, the
theory has received considerable support from clinicians and has
a great deal of face validity. It has been extremely useful in under-
standing specific developmental problems, such as identity confu-
sion and mid—life career crises. For example, it has been found
that students who had made weIl—adjusted vocational choices and
had developed mature career attitudes (as measured by Crites’
Maturity Inventory, discussed in Chapter 2), had also been most
successful in moving through the first six stages identified by
Erikson
There may be sex differences in the course of the life stages.
One study found that adolescent
. girls often achieve a sense of identity only after they have es-
tablished a sense of intimacy (generally heterosexual) in their
relationships. Thus, the intimacy stage may precede the identity
stage for girlst; adolescent boys, on the other hand, are seen
by these researchers to be able to achieve intimacy after they
had attained a sense of identity, which fits with Erikson’s model
Other theories, too, correspond in part, to Erikson‘s concep-
tion of life stages. In the realm of vocational behavior, Super and
his associates employ a model of five developmental stages: (1)
childhood, (2) adolescence, (3) young adulthood, (4) maturity,
and (5) old age. The main task in the I
childhood (up to age 14) stage is growth. In this stage the person ?
begins to fantasize about careers, and develops vocational inter-
ests and capacities. During adolescence, the person begins to
explore his own interests and different specific career opportu-
nities. This corresponds to Erikson’s identity stage. In young
adulthood, the person may initially flounder
a bit (as seen in the high initial turnover of recent college gradu-
ates), and eventually establish himself in a particular field. This
corresponds to Erikson’s intimacy stage with some hints of gen-
erativity later. In maturity, the person continues
to hold his own in a sort of career plateau. This stage is probably
when generativity concerns would be most important. Old age
(65 and on) is a period of disengagement. This would be the
time ego integrity would be achieved, if the person has resolved
all the earlier stages. (The vocational stages defined by Super
are shown in detail in Table 3-1 .) Super’s model has been support-
ed in recent research on organizational careers.
Miller and Fcrm’s Occupational Stages
Miller and Form have described five stages based more
on actual job behaviors than on the underlying developmental
processes. The preparatory work period occurs in childhood. The
initial work period (late teens) consists of part-time and occasional
jobs. The trial work period starts with the person’s first regular
full-time job and continues until he settles into a stable field of
work: (late twenties or early thirties). The stable work period ex-
tends from the thirties to the sixties, and is followed by retirement.
Typical career patterns tend to emerge, based upon the ways
people have gone through (or have failed to go through) these »
work stages, with primary emphasis on the stability or security
ofthe career. These patterns are as follows:
1. Stable career pattern. People in this category have gone directly from
their schooling into work with which they stayed. Many managers and
most professionals have careers of this type.
2. Conventional career pattern. In this pattern, the individual goes through
the stages in the sequence listed above: initial jobs, trial jobs, and stable
employment. This pattern describes most managerial careers.
3. Unstable career pattern. In this pattern the person never really becomes
established in one area, going from trial jobs to a stable situation and
then back to trial jobs again. She might be called /atera/ly mobile, rather
than upwardly mobile.
4. Mu/tiple-trial career pattern. In this pattern the person does not stay in
1. Growth Stage (Birth—14) ·
Self-concept develops through identification with key figures in family and
in school; needs and fantasy are dominant early in this stage; interest
and capacity become more important in this stage with increasing social
participation and reality testing. Substages of the growth stage are:
Fantasy (4-10), Needs are dominant; role playing in fantasy is impor-
tant.
Interests (11-12). Likes are the major determinant of aspitalions and
activities.
Capacity (13-14). Abilities are given more weight, and job requirements
(including training) are considered.
2. Exploration Stage (Age 15-24)
Self-examination, role tryouts, and occupational exploration take place
in school, leisure activities, and part—time work. Substages of the explora-
tion stage are:
Tentative (15-17). Needs, interests, capacities, values, and opportu-
. nities are all considered. Tentative choices are made and tried out in
fantasy, discussion, courses, work, etc.
Transition (18-21). Reality considerations are given more weight as
the youth enters labor market or professional training and attempts
to implement a self-concept.
Trial (22-24). A seemingly appropriate field having been located, a
beginning job in it is found and is tried out as a life work.
3. Establishment Stage (Age 25-44)
Having found an appropriate field, effort is put forth to make a permanent
place in it. There may be some trial early in this stage, with consequent
shifting, but establishment may begin without trial, especially in the profes-
sions. Substages of the establishment stage are:
Trial (25-30). The field of work presumed to be suitable may prove
unsatisfactory, resulting in one or two changes before the life work
is found or before it becomes clear that the life work will be a succession
of unrelated jobs.
Stabilization (31-44). As the career pattern becomes clear, effort is
put forth to stabilize, to make a secure place, in the world of work.
For most persons these are the creative years.
4. Maintenance Stage (Age 45-64)
Having made a place in the world of work, the concern is now to hold
it. Little new ground is broken, but there is continuation along established
lines.
5. Dec/ine Stage (Age 65 on)
As physical and mental powers decline, work activity changes and in
‘ due course ceases. New roles must be developed; first that of selective
participant and then that of observer rather than participant. Substages
of this stage are:
Deceleration (65-70). Sometimes at the time of official retirement,
sometimes late in the maintenance stage, the pace of work slackens,
duties are shifted, or the nature of the work is changed to suit declining
capacities. Many men find part-time jobs to replace their full—time oc-
cupations. _
Retirement (71 on). As with all the specified age limits, there are great
variations from person to person. But complete cessation of occupation
comes for all in due course, to some easily and pleasantly, to others
with difficulty and disappointment, and to some only with death.
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