ego-psychology

ego-psychology

approaches within PSYCHOANALYSIS (see also NEOFREUDIANS) that emphasize the EGO rather than the ID (see I. Craib, 1989). As Craib asserts: ‘If object-relations theory is British psychoanalysis, then ego-psychology is American psychoanalysis’ (see also OBJECT-RELATIONS SCHOOL). Ego-psychology exerted a strong influence on the theory of SOCIALIZATION developed by PARSONS. It is sometimes criticized as ‘an ideological product of American capitalism’, since its primary concern often appears to be a concern with individual adjustment to existing social conditions.