THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF SOCIAL IDENTITY IN DIGITAL COMMUNITIES

This article aims to systematise and compare theoretical approaches to the study of social identity in the context of digitalisation and the formation of cyberspace. The paper analyses classical concepts of social identity and their subsequent development within contemporary theories of the network society and the platform society. Attention is paid to digital communities as a specific form of social organisation and to IT communities as a professionally oriented and methodologically illustrative case. The article substantiates the argument that social identity in the digital environment is formed as a multi-level and processual phenomenon shaped by network interactions, collective practices, and the infrastructural conditions of digital platforms. The findings provide a conceptual foundation for further empirical research into the transformation of social identity within IT communities.