Identification and identity in the information age: main issue and conflict risks

This study examines the risks and threats associated with issues of identification and identity in the context of digitalized and information-saturated public sphere. The analysis emphasizes both the cyber and ideological dimensions of information security discourse. Problems related to identification—as one of the fundamental mechanisms in the construction of identities—are predominantly considered within the framework of cybersecurity. The second part of the study focuses on the ideological implications of the modern concept of identity. The main problems highlighted by the author in this part include: the threat of value polarization in society, the radicalization of certain segments of the population, the rise of populism, and the creation of risks for building a shared civic identity. The analysis draws on securitization theory, framing security as a discursive construct, and employs comparative examination of Russian and American approaches to information security, supported by «case studies» to highlight conflict dynamics. The first part of this study contains the following list threats: difficulty of identifying a cybercriminal; problem of the state using incomplete data about citizens; a potential conflict between the government and big-data companies; using other people's digital profiles and figures on the Internet in order to misinform about opinion makers. The politico-ideological section stresses the role of «identification thinking», which fosters biased perceptions of certain value systems, often through their dehumanization. Processes such as the formation of «echo chambers» contribute to the decline of public deliberation, the closure of social groups, and, consequently, to radicalization and social polarization. In the long term, these dynamics may encourage populist practices that further hinder the development of a shared civic identity.

identity, identification, identity thinking, context collapse, polarization, radicalization, dehumanization, cybersecurity, echo chamber, populism