Identification, object constancy, and identity in post-Freudian man

The Freudian image of Man has been dated by changing times. This image presupposed identification with strong parental figures whose values became the child's own; the resulting psychic structure, the superego, was the guardian of identity, its values measuring what was like- and unlike-me. Since World War II, however, cultural anomie, attacks on tradition, and general uncertainty by parents on how to rear children have made superego-forming identifications virtually unavailable. Object constancy underlies identity in post-Freudian man, and the identification process depends on achieving a stable level of object constancy.

Chapter I reviews the Freudian image of Man and its decline. The rise of a style of life poised for change and uncommitted to values has changed the nature of normalcy and psychopathology. The implications of this style of life for identification and identity are explored. Chapter II reviews the identification concept in Freud and in later psychoanalytic thought. Chapter III looks at the psychoanalytic concept of internalization, exploring its presupposition of a representational world. Criticisms and alternatives, including those of social learning theory and demetapsychologizing efforts within psychoanalysis, are explored. Finally, a phenomenological understanding of internalization is proposed. Chapter IV discusses object constancy, reviewing the literature and then applying the conclusions of the previous chapter to the concept. The chapter outlines the identification process and argues that object constancy is the prerequisite for identification. Chapter V traces the superego concept in Freud and argues that the concept has suffered dissolution since Freud. The functions assigned to the superego in current literature are more properly those of object constancy.

Post-Freudian man builds his identity on object constancy, which is the illusion that the mother is always available to mirror the child. The illusion that he is always seen gives the child the feeling of being continuously real; this is the basis for identity. This illusion frees the individual for seeing himself from new perspectives (identification). Constancy's absence leaves the individual dependent on being seen by others to feel real and at the same time fearful that his reality can be lost to the other's look.