Transformations of Cultural Identity in the Digital World

Abstract

The article considers the existing definitions of cultural identity and shows that the problem of cultural identity is primarily the problem of the demarcation of “own” and “alien” in culture, the solution of which depends not only on the definition of one’s cultural identity, but also one’s attitude to other cul­tures and their representatives. The authors analyze the possibility of solving a few problems of cultural identity with the help of cultural neuroscience, they demonstrate the shortcomings of this approach which do not allow any signifi­cant conclusions to be drawn on its basis, and show that the problem of modern crises and transformations of cultural identity will continue to be approached in the near future from the perspective of socio-cultural research and in direct so­cial practice. They also demonstrate that new challenges to cultural identity are associated with the confrontation of globalism and glocalism, and show that both vectors of social development are intensified thanks to digital technologies that make possible permanent contacts of different cultures on a previously inaccessi­ble scale. The unpreparedness of the digital communications user to meet with an “alien” is a source of cultural shock, it increases the risk of conflicts that can go beyond online communications. Digital communications make it possible for migrants to maintain constant contact with their “own” culture while being in an “alien” cultural space, which complicates their adaptation to a new place and leads to “ghettoization”. The authors show that the solution of potential in­tercultural conflicts can be implemented with the help of carriers of transcultural identities, the identities of people who are “at the crossroads” of cultures.