I

Identification In a general sense identification refers to the recognition of X or of an X as something, as a particular or as a certain kind of thing, person, quality, etc. So one can identify aspects of a social problem as leading to social policies of a particular kind. More specifically in social work 'identification' has a psychoanalytic reference: here identification is with someone or with a particular role (as in the notion of'identification with the aggressor'). The child, as a result of affectional attachments, models his behaviour, usually without being aware of his behaviour under this description, on important figures in his environment or on aspects of them. In a psychoanalytic perspective 'identification' is of general importance as a mechanism of socialisation (e.g. in boys the super-ego is considered to arise from identification with the father at the time of the resolution of the oedipal complex). It is also used in the

IDEOLOGY

explanation of specific problems (e.g. in melancholia it is assumed that the ego is identified with the lost object).