This paper reconstructs Erik Erikson's concept of "ritualization" and presents a new framework for ritual study. Most ritual theories in sociology and anthropology have been constructed mainly from the level of social group. In contrast, Erikson explains ritual action starting with the mental mechanism of the actor. The point of his analysis focuses on determining the process of ritualization, kind of function ritualization has, and its relation with "pathology" and "playfulness." 
Erikson develops his own argument over ritualization, inspired by the discussion of "compulsive neurosis" in S. Freud's psychoanalysis and ritual behavior of animals in ethology. According to Erikson, ritualization originates from one's "ambivalent" mental process. Due to the desire to punish one's own "negative identity," human beings may use "violence" on others to whom negative identity is projected. Therefore, to facilitate smooth interaction, it is needed to communicate a "meta-message" that one has no intention of doing harm to another. Ritualization that is "formalized and repeated" realizes that function by making actions predictable. 
However, when ritualization becomes too rigid and is no longer shared with others or loses its social meaning, it becomes pathology ("ritualism"). On the contrary, playfulness reactuates ritualization by giving actions flexibility and "leeway" to adapt to changes in social relations. In return, to prevent confusion between play and reality, ritualization provides playfulness with the standard of actions accepted within the community. Thus, in Erikson's argument, the "dialectic" process between ritualization and playfulness forms normal actions, and the deviation from that forms pathology. 
In conclusion, Erikson's "ritualization" revealed in this study can provide new information for discussions about "interaction ritual" and can be used to analyze decline or change of rituals.

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