Vladimir Putin Using Erikson\'s Eight

¶ … Vladimir Putin using Erikson's eight stages of psychosocial development as a psychological format. This paper will link the life of Putin with Erik Erikson's stages of psychosocial development, and therein provide a profile of Putin, who is Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.

Erikson's phases: Infancy to 18 months of age; children develop a sense of trust when caregivers provide reliability, care and affection. Mistrust can be fostered when trust is absent (About.com).

There is not a large volume of information about Putin's very early childhood, but what information is available reflects the grim era in the Soviet Union just prior to when Putin was born. It sets the stage for the world that Vladimir Putin would be brought up in, and hence is germane to this aspect of the paper. Putin's father Vladimir was serving in the Soviet army in 1941 during WWII. The Nazis had Putin's town (Leningrad) surrounded. The Nazis had indeed laid "siege" to Leningrad, "cutting off supplies of food and medicine to citizens" (Streissguth, 2005, 12). In fact Putin's mother, Mariya Putin lived in a homeless shelter during that siege, getting by on "a few ounces of bread a day"; in that shelter Putin's older brother (first born to Mariya and Vladimir's father) died of diphtheria.

"Once my mother fainted from hunger," Putin explains in the book First Person: An Astonishingly Frank Self-Portrait by Russia's President (Fitzpatrick, 2000, p. 6). She was "on the verge of starvation," Putin remembers. "People thought she had died, and they laid her out with the corpses," but fortunately, Putin continues, his mother woke up "in time and started moaning… by some miracle, she lived… [and] made it through the entire blockade of Leningrad" (Fitzpatrick, 6).

At the time that the infant Vladimir was born (1952) the Putin family lived in a terribly small, fifth-floor apartment with a shared kitchen, a shared toilet, no heat, no bathtub and no running water, according to author Thomas Streissguth, writing in his book Vladimir Putin. During the long and frigid winters, the building was cold and damp. Rats "scampered on the stairway landings and in the building's narrow courtyard," Streissguth explains (13). The stairway had "a freezing metal handrail" and the stairs "weren't safe either -- there were gaps everywhere" (Shields, et al., 2007, p. 31).

Putin's mother -- disobeying a Soviet Union law -- had her baby son baptized into the Christian Church in 1952. So the world knows that Putin's mother risked imprisonment to have her baby baptized. The issue of trust in this phase of the Erikson stages does not relate to the baby Putin, but rather to his mother: as a caregiver she trusted her own instincts against those of the communist state. That shows affection and independence in this family, in a Cold War moment while living in horrid conditions. Caroline Frost, writing in the BBC, explains that Putin was "Born in Leningrad, six months before the death of Stalin" and that he "experienced a poverty-stricken childhood tempered by a good education" (Frost, 2005).

Erikson's phases: 2 to 3 years of age; children need to develop a sense of personal control over physical skills and a sense of independence; success leads to a sense of autonomy, but failure can result in feelings of shame and doubt (About.com).

There is very little biographical information available about Putin in this phase of his life. Author Shields quotes Putin from a biography: "There were hordes of rats in the front entryway" of his parents' tiny apartment, he wrote. "My friends and I used to chase them around with sticks," Putin continued (quoted by Shields, p. 32). One time they ran after a "huge rat" down the hall until it was cornered. "It had nowhere to run. Suddenly it lashed around and threw itself at me," which surprised and "frightened" the young Putin. The writer was not sure at this point exactly how old Putin was at this time, but it was likely he was older than three years.

Erikson's phases: 3 to 5 years of age; children feel a need to begin asserting control and power over the environment. They can develop a sense of purpose at this stage, but if they try to "exert too much power" and experience disapproval, they could feel guilty (About.com).

Irina Titova writes in the Moscow Times (Titova, 2004) that Putin spent the first five years of his life in the five-story yellow building at 12 Baskov Pereulok in what was then Leningrad and today is St. Petersburg. As mentioned earlier, the Putin family lived in a crowded situation on the fifth floor of what is now a renovated and expensive apartment complex. "They say Putin had a very hospitable mother and that his friends could freely come to their home, where she would feed them," according to a guide (Kirill) that took journalist Titova on a tour of St. Petersburg. Putin's mother, like many mothers in that era, was obsessed with feeding children well, following the Nazi blockage.

Putin was "born into a completely ordinary St. Petersburg family," and his family was the "third generation" to live in St. Petersburg, Titova wrote. Putin's mother (who baptized him against the Soviet law) "probably took her infant son to the church without the knowledge of his father, who was a member of the Communist Party," Titova continued. Other than those facts, there is not a lot of detail surrounding Putin's first five or so years.

Erikson's phases: 6 to 11 years of age; children at this age need to cope with new social and academic demands; success leads to a sense of competence, and failure can lead to a sense of inferiority (About.com).

An ABC News story (Thompson, 2007) relates how a refugee named Nadezhda Pankova, found Putin's grade book and other school-related materials from his youth in an attic of a house where the Putin family spent summers during Putin's adolescence. The grade book contained an instructor's comments: "Before class [Putin] threw chalkboard erasers at the children… [he] Didn't do his math homework… behaved badly during singing class… [and he] talks in class" (Thompson, p. 1).

Putin reportedly "fought with his gym teacher during the 1963-64 school year" (which would make him 11 and 12 years of age) and once he was sent out of class, sent home, "and punished for forgetting his uniform," the report by Thompson continues. His father was called to the school at least once, following a fight Putin got into with an older student, and besides not doing his math homework he received a three (out of five) in arithmetic and natural science; he got a 2 in drawing but received a five in history (Thompson). Ironically the youthful Putin apparently loved the German language (his parents were harrowingly near to being killed by the Germans) because "German notes" were found "all over his books for other subjects," Thompson explains.

Streissguth writes that at seven years of age (Putin was called "Volodya" at that time) Volodya started first grade at school 193, a "short walk from his family's apartment" (p. 16). "At first Volodya did not like school much," Streissguth explains. Putin was often late to school in the morning and got into trouble "…for fighting and playing pranks," and he earned "mostly C's on his report card," the author explains on p. 16. Putin attempted to join the Pioneers, a young person's communist organization, but he was rejected in 3rd grade because he wasn't a "hardworking student," Streissguth writes (p. 17). By 6th grade he was allowed into the Pioneers because he had settled down by that time.

Whether or not Putin at this point felt inferior -- he obviously had some problems adjusting to school -- is not known, but he was already getting into fights at this age so perhaps he was defending his honor and proving that just because he was diminutive in stature, he could pack a punch. Going to school was a new social and academic environment for Putin, and while he was rebellious in his first years in school, and punished to some degree, it cannot be assumed that he left with a sense of inferiority. That said, it is true that Putin became an avid Judo fighter later in his adolescence, so perhaps it can be suggested that whatever academic or physical weakness he might have experienced earlier was going to be wiped out with his powerful training in martial arts.

Erikson's phases: 12 to 18 years of age; in this age teens need to develop a sense of self and personal identity. Success leads to an ability to stay true to yourself, while failure leads to role confusion and a weak sense of self (About-com).

By the 9th grade Putin was in School 281 (high school) and according to Streissguth he "studied hard, performing especially well in German class… [becoming] almost fluent in German" (p. 18). He thought about a career in civil aviation, but through reading books and attending films he "discovered the world of espionage -- spying" (Streissguth, p. 18). Author Brenda Lange explains that "Putin did well" in high school and that in fact School 281 was for "the city's brightest students" (Shields, 2007, 2007, p. 33). Putin was drawn to literature, history, and art.

It seems the response to the Erickson's 12 to 18 years-of-age format in this context is that Putin in high school had no role confusion and did not have a weak sense of him. At School 281 the teachers handed out "the underground samizdat" (materials that questioned whether or not the Soviet state was "realistic"), which was a stealth strategy in literature class, that Putin may have found to be fascinating (knowing he would pursue a career as a spy later) (Shields, p. 33). "… Classmates and teachers remembered him as a top student who was self-confident," Shields writes. One day when the teacher wasn't watching a boy kicked Putin from behind; Putin launched a strong kick back at the boy, and after school this bully and friends were waiting for Putin. He had been taking judo lessons and sambo lessons (a cross between judo and wrestling) and according to Shield's book Putin "…calmly stepped forward, and with a few moves, brought down the bigger boy… and no one at school picked on him again" (pp. 33-34).

Putin knew, as a teenager, that he wanted to become a spy. That doesn't seem to be a role confusion situation for Putin; quite the contrary, Shields explains that though Putin had told the Times of London (Beeston) that he was a "hooligan" and "a real ruffian" as a teenager, he went to the KGB offices and talked to a man in the office about how to become a spy. The man told him he needed a law degree, so Putin "made up his mind to apply to the elite law school at Leningrad State University" (Shields, p. 34).

Erikson's phases: 19 to 40 years of age; young adults at this point in their lives need to form intimate, loving relationships with other people; failure results in loneliness and isolation and success leads to strong, reliable relationships (About.com).

Given that this phase of life requires the person to develop strong relationships, Putin seems to have failed at least to some degree. His close friend Sergei Raldugin, quoted by Shields (from the Times of London), said Putin's "stoical and shoulder-shrugging attitude got on his nerves" (p. 37). "…He was completely incapable of expressing his emotions… he had powerful emotions, but couldn't put them into words," Raldugin is quoted saying (Shields, 37). Putin fell in love with a medical student, "his first real love," Shields writes (38). "She was a good person… strong-willed," Raldugin remembers.

The two actually applied for a marriage license, and the rings were purchased for the wedding, along with the dresses and suits, and everything was readied for the nuptials. But "suddenly" Putin came to the conclusion it was the wrong thing to do. He "knew that marriage was not what he wanted… I told her the whole truth," he said (quoted by Shields from the Times' article). However, in 1975 as he was graduating from Leningrad State University law school he was recruited by the KGB, an honor for Putin; he was the only one chosen out of 100 applications. "He happily anticipated that he was going to live the life of the spy in the movie he had seen when he was a young man" (Shields, 39). At this point in his life, Putin was apparently forming a relationship with the KGB, and was not known to be lonely or isolated at all.

But in the "early 1980s" (when he was still under 40 years of age) he met and married Lyudmila, a former teacher of French and English, which it is fair to assume was a loving relationship. Putin at this point (in 1985) was sent by the KGB to Dresden, East Germany to do undercover work as "Mr. Adamov" (Encyclopedia of World Biography). For a man who wanted to be undercover, who wanted to be a spy, this was a prime assignment for Putin, and in no way could he be considered lonely and isolated when this work was what he had dreamed about, worked toward, and finally achieved was based on his strong desire and aptitude.