With his co-author, De Vos - a major figure in psychological anthropology - explores anthropological, sociological and psychoanalytical insights into human behaviour. Their unified theory synthesizes social structure and personality structure, concepts previously seen as diametrically opposed. The authors point to the symbolic nature of groups, the experience of ethnicity and of inequality, and the impact of internal and external variables on the sense of self. Separating the effects of status inequality from other social and psychological determinants of behaviour, this intriguing work discusses the developmental experience of the self.