Ego development in perspective: Structural stage,functional phase,and cultural age-period models

Ego development is emerging as one of the more important areas of research in developmental psychology. This paper presents a structural stage approach to ego development and distinguishes it from two other models of ego development, which are termed functional phases and cultural ages. Two subtypes are also delineated within the structural stage approach—a monodomain and a multisubdomain—and the latter is argued for. These concepts are then illustrated through an analysis of four prominent ego development theories—those of Robert Selman, Robert Kegan, Jane Loevinger, and Erik Erikson. The important similarities and critical differences of the theories are clarified, which enables the authors to present a summary integration.     

The technology trap and the new humanism

The presumption that critical theory needs reloading for the 21^st century suggests the school of thought has to be reimagined in a way that refines its theoretical focus. Arguably, this refining is necessitated by the fact that the technological culture that the first generation of critical theorists believed was ushering in a new kind of barbarism has evolved considerably over the intervening years, and in a manner that renders more problematic than ever the Enlightenment promise of human freedom and self-determination. This article explores one form that the “spirit” of critical theory may take in light of contemporary techno-cultural advances. Extrapolating from the original articulation of the challenge confronting humanity by the Frankfurt School theorists Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno, it is argued that the intensification of the technological dynamic that sees human subjectivity subsumed under systems of control demands a reinvigorated critical response. The mutually sympathetic critiques of modern techno-culture offered by Jean Baudrillard and Byung-Chul Han are presented as embodying the spirit of critical theory for the 21^st century. Their focus on the hegemony of the ethos of technology opens up a way of reimagining the meaning of humanism in an age arguably more barbaric than the Frankfurt School theorists anticipated.