PRANAB CHATTERJEE
DARLYNE BAILEY
NINA ARONOFF
Case Western Reserve University
This paper disputes the theory of universal stages of development (often called the epigenetic
principle) asserted by Erikson (1963; 1982; 1997) and later developed in detail by Newman &
Newman (1987, p. 33). It particularly disputes that there are clear stages of adolescence (12-18) ,
late adolescence (18-22), old age (60-75), and very old age (75+). Data from twelve communities
aro~md the world suggest that the concept of adolescence is socially constructed in each local
setting, and that the concept of late adolescence is totally absent in some communities. Further,
the stage ofold age (60-75) is much shorter in some communities, and that the stage of very old age
(75+) is not found at all in some communities.
In 1996, a debate took place between the senior author of this
paper and another faculty member at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western
Reserve University. The debate centered around the following topic:
the model of human development, as proposed by Erik Erikson, is a very important tool
in social work education, but represents a Euro-centric bias, a social class bias (favoring the
upper classes in a social class hierarchy), and a regional bias (i.e., European and North American)
in a world system.
* The authors of this paper are deeply indebted to the following persons in four continents:
Army D' Aprix; Comel Celmare; Manu Chatterjee; Marian Chat- terjee; Mark Chupp; Samir Dasgupta;
Mahasweta Devi; Kiku Ellis; Ovidiu Gavrolovici; Victor Groza; Maria Humphries; Romaniuc Mehai;
Sharon Mil- ligan; Pushpa Mishra; Manish Raha; Rotoraut Roy-Chaudhury; and Anindita Roy.
Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, December, 2001, Volume XXVIIl, Number 4
. . . please contact Pranab Chatterjee (pxc6@case.edu) for information on obtaining the rest of the
document.
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