In this article, the metapsychological concept of identification is simultaneously understood as the basis for the mechanisms of the individual’s insertion in social groups - in a cultural context - as well as a key factor in the overcoming of the Oedipus conflict and the comprehension of the constitution of the self. It is suggested that the concept of identification enables us to understand psychic and social factors as elements in the constitution of the individual which, therefore, should not be considered separately. This also indicates the metapsychological character that the social factor acquires in Freud’s psychoanalytical theory. The main source for the current analysis is the 1921 essay by Freud entitled Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego.
identification; psychoanalysis; metapsychology