THE SHADOW OF GLOBALIZATION AND THE PARADOXES OF DIGITALIZATION: DETERMINANTS AND MANIFESTATIONS OF ADULT LONELINESS IN TWENTY-FIRST-CENTURY SOCIETY

The article provides a social-psychological substantiation of adult loneliness in twenty-first-century society through an analysis of the interaction between macro-social transformations and micro-level mechanisms of experienced belonging.The aim of the study is to conceptually refine the categories of the «shadow of globalization» and the «paradoxes of digitalization», as well as to identify the key determinants and multidimensional manifestations of loneliness in contemporary society.It is demonstrated that the «shadow of globalization» comprises a set of indirect, latent, and structurally conditioned consequences of globalization processes (fragmentation of social environments, weakening of stable forms of social life, intensified mobility, and instability of life and professional trajectories), which undermine the durability of long-term ties and limit access to functionally meaningful social support.It is substantiated that, in the social-psychological dimension, this context is accompanied by a transformation of normative expectations: autonomy and self-sufficiency become socially approved markers of adulthood, whereas the need for close relationships and assistance may be stigmatized, thereby constraining helpseeking and increasing the likelihood of the prolonged consolidation of loneliness.It is further specified that the «paradoxes of digitalization» reflect a contradictory dynamic of the communicative space, in which the expansion of means of interaction does not ensure a proportional deepening of social ties and does not guarantee an enhanced sense of closeness; particular significance is attributed to motives for using digital communication tools, algorithmic mediation of interactions, and digital exclusion.The determinants of loneliness are systematized as a multilevel set of normativemeaningful, structural-economic, organizational-professional, urbanization-migration, and digital factors, whose effects are mediated by social environments and specified through mechanisms of trust, reciprocity, self-evaluation, and experienced belonging.