Per una narratologia digitale: la natura complessa delle identità sociali: la natura complessa delle identità sociali

Abstract

This contribution aims to analyze the social and cultural processes connected to the mechanisms of identity construction within the media ecosystem of social networks, in which the ICT revolution has taken on a social dimension. The “ecosystemic” nature of media and digital platforms requires a systemic approach, which is therefore capable of grasping the complex interconnections that unite the relationships that bind media, culture and society around a single tree, albeit in its myriad of intertwined ramifications. Social networks have become both the space to manage and expand one’s social network and in which to define one’s social identity, through the emergence and reproduction of mechanisms for managing and selecting one’s Self, which were even previously unknown. In this sense, narratology, through an analysis of the cultural and social processes linked to autobiographical narration practices, can represent a privileged key to understanding these phenomena. We can observe in the media spaces of social networks the emergence of new forms and practices of (self-)narratives, which contribute to determining our personal and social identities.