Internet-based micro-identities as a driver of societal disintegration

Abstract

The article discusses the role of digital media use in societal transformations, with a specific focus on the emergence of micro-identities. It also explores the extent to which such transformations entail increasing the risk of societal disintegration—defined as the erosion of established social structures, values, and norms. Our contention is that the distinctive attributes of digital media, coupled with the myriad expanding opportunities of use they afford, harbor the potential to fragment and polarize public discourse. Such tendencies jeopardize public trust in democratic institutions and undermine social cohesion. The intricate interplay between media usage and polarization synergistically contributes to the formation of micro-identities, characterized by their narrow and emergent nature. These micro-identities, in turn, manifest themselves through in-group self-determination often to the detriment of the broader social fabric. Thus, various micro-identities may actively contribute to the actual atrophy of the implicit rules and procedures hitherto deemed the norm within society. By addressing these multifaceted issues, typically confined within distinct disciplinary silos, this analysis adopts a multidisciplinary approach. Drawing from perspectives in political science, sociology, psychology, and media and communication, this paper offers in-depth analyses of the interactions between social processes and media usage. In doing so, it contributes substantively to the ongoing discourse surrounding the factors driving societal disintegration.