Algorithmic Identities: The Normative Influence of Social Media on Young Adults' Self-Perception and Consumer Culture

Abstract

The contemporary digital age and platform capitalism construct a new normative reality that radically colonizes the aesthetic regimes of social life, cultural mediation mechanisms, and the very foundation of individual existence along the axis of algorithmic flows. This transformation necessitates a multi-layered re-evaluation of traditional concepts of identity, habitus, and the presentation of self. This study aims to examine the structural and cultural transformation unfolding through the coding of taste in the era of neoliberal rationality and digitalization, and to discuss the domination practices of the late-capitalist platform regime within the lifeworld of young adults through a multidimensional sociological lens. Rather than gathering empirical field data, the study employs a conceptual and intertextual analysis method within the framework of cultural sociology and digital anthropology literature, based on Shoshana Zuboff’s surveillance capitalism thesis, Bruno Latour’s actor-network theory, Pierre Bourdieu’s extended concept of habitus, Zygmunt Bauman’s analysis of liquid modernity, and Byung-Chul Han's critique of the achievement society. The findings demonstrate that the macroeconomic imperatives of platform capitalism produce a meso-level algorithmic curation and visibility pressure, which is then infiltrated into the individual's embodied habitus at the micro level through cyber-spatial networks and digital metrics. Furthermore, it is argued that the convergence of external algorithmic controls and the internalized mandate for visibility produces a paradoxical ground of subjectivity based on self-exploitation, leading to cultural homogenization, drifting among artificial micro-trends, and a profound erosion of algorithmic identity. In conclusion, the study highlights the necessity of integrating critical algorithmic literacy into educational curricula, examining local spaces of resistance against global homogenization pressures, and developing ethical-legal regulations on the addictive dynamics of platforms.