2010 Reprint of 1927 English Edition. Adler provides a practical understanding of how childhood shapes adult life, which in turn might benefit society as a whole. Unlike the culturally elitist Freud, Adler believed that the work of understanding should not be the preserve of psychologists alone, but a vital undertaking for everyone to pursue, given the bad consequences of ignorance. This approach to psychology was unusually democratic for psychoanalytic circles. It is a work that anyone can read and understand.