According to Erik H. Erikson, the process of social development consists of:
- Infancy: Where the individual learns to trust and mistrust.
- Toddlerhood: Where the individual discerns challenge vs autonomy.
- Preschool: Where the individual understands the difference between initiative and guilt.
- Pre-Adolescence: Where the individual learns about industriousness and inferiority.
- Adolescence: Where the individual struggles between identity and confusion.
- Young Adulthood: Where the individual deals between intimacy or isolation
- Middle-Adulthood: Where the individual confronts the challenge of trying to make the difference.
- Old Age: Where the individual struggles between integrity and despair.
The mentioned book tries to portrait the development of the individual throughout his years at a school. It uses the early sub-processes of Socialization (Infancy, Toddlerhood, Preschool, Pre-Adolescence, and Adolescence) as a base for its analysis and subsequent conclusions.