Recognition theory, social media, and the dialectical moment

Using Axel Honneth’s recognition-theoretical framework, this chapter demonstrates how recognition relations shape personal identity as the foundation for negotiating a developing sense of self through intersubjective models of identity formation. Recognition theory highlights how social movements emerge from phenomenologies of suffering and perceived injustice, which can also ground solidarity and resistance. Accordingly, the chapter explores how a politics of recognition underpins identity-based movements such as Black Lives Matter and #MeToo. It then applies the dialectical recognition model to the current era of struggle, in which groups contest shifting cultural values. These “culture wars” are shown to be intensified by algorithmic media, which deepen socio-political polarisation and produce epistemic disjuncture. To address this, the chapter considers an amendment to Honneth’s framework by introducing epistemic recognition and misrecognition as additional framing devices, illuminating contemporary crises. Finally, the chapter explores the normative potential of recognition theory, countering charges of relativism and revealing how the model can illuminate mechanisms of injustice. By shifting from a dialectical to a dialogical framing, it underscores the centrality of reciprocity, respect, and responsibility—insisting that recognition requires not only speaking but also listening if we are to understand the social origins of moral and political discontent.