The object of the research is individual and group identity as sociocultural phenomena. The aim of the dissertation research is to reveal the essence and peculiarities of the formation of individual and group identity in different historical periods and to determine how these processes change under the influence of the information and network space. Research methods and principles:
The etymological approach, The method of conceptual and categorical analysis, The deconstructive approach. The principle of philosophical hermeneutics. The phenomenological method, The interdisciplinary and integrative approach. In addition to the above, the research also employed general scientific methods such as analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, abstraction, comparison. The theoretical and practical significance of the dissertation research. The results, provisions, and conclusions obtained in the course of researching the essence and characteristics of the formation of individual and group identity in different historical periods deepen our understanding of the processes of human self-determination and can become a theoretical basis for developing approaches to strengthening personal identity and social adaptation, as well as for developing strategies for national consolidation that are relevant to the pressing challenges of today. The theoretical generalizations and conclusions made in the dissertation can be used to create educational recommendations on the specifics of using network resources, developing information security strategies, and countering manipulation in the information network space and information aggression. Scientific novelty of the research In the course of the dissertation research, the provisions and conclusions that are distinguished by scientific novelty were substantiated. In particular, the work:
For the first time: the influence of information and communication technologies and online interaction on the process of human self-determination has been explained, and it has been found that: 1) the information and network space has created conditions for free self-affirmation of a person in a self-constructed world, while contributing to the strengthening of strong social ties (such as family ties) and the emergence of a large number of new types of weak ties, which are most clearly manifested in unstable online communities based on the network principle; 2) the emergence of digital identity, manifested as the presence or traces of an individual’s presence in the networked world, has laid the foundation for the representation of a person beyond physical boundaries, thus decomposing a person into a body and physicality through which they freely and without external coercion form their own image or experiment with social roles using images, social signals, expressions, and behavior; 3) network communication, as a relatively new form of social interaction, can cause a transformation of cognitive processes and thus significantly complicate the psychosocial development of the individual, and consequently the formation of their personal identity as a given life orientation. the conceptual foundations of the study and the peculiarities of the development of group identity in the information network environment are revealed, and it is demonstrated that: modernist concepts of nation building became the basis for the emergence of new types of communities in the information network space. Their supporters comprehensively and thoroughly revealed the differences between the sociocultural situations of agrarian and industrial societies and showed that national identity, as a type of collective identity, emerged in the industrial era under the influence of the Reformation, print capitalism, and standardized education. This gave reason to predict that the changes caused by the development of globalization and informatization would destroy the foundations of national identity and lead to the emergence of communities either significantly larger or significantly smaller than the nation state; the rapid development of information and network technologies is changing the nature of interpersonal interaction, without, however, destroying the foundations of ethnic and national identity. In the new sociocultural conditions, they are preserved thanks to the ability of information and communication technologies to maintain strong and form a large number of weak social ties, and the conscious and active use of mass media (radio, television, video, the Internet) by elites to solve local and national problems. This intention is accompanied by the active development of subcultural communities that do not pose a threat to the existence of ethnic and national communities.
