Identity, Community and Symbolic Interactionism in the Digital Age

The thesis presents a compilation about social relations and identity formation via digital technology and new media, internet in the first place. The author, with the regard to contemporary processes as globalization and rapid digital technology development, mainly relates to two topics, following the view of complexity, mutual implications, cohesion and conditionality of individual identity, interpersonal relationships and social relations, from the perspective of symbolic interaction theory. The first topic is concerning theories about "virtual" and "disembodied" individual "self", which the author endeavours to disconfirm, using Hansen's concept of a body as a specific image. The second topic describes the forms of interpersonal relationships and social relations - author maintains that the "traditional" views of the latter don't perish, but transform and redefine themselves. Similarly, their embedded "qualities" subsequently don't disapear nor devalue