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Identity formation in late secular societies: the role of artificial intelligence and digital mediation
Author(s)
Garnique Hinostroza, Ronald
Estrada-Medina, Roberto
Date Issued
15 de abril de 2026
Type
Article
Series/Report No.
AI & Society
ISSN
0951-5666
1435-5655
Abstract
In late secular societies, identity formation is increasingly described in the literature as undergoing significant transformation in contexts shaped by artificial intelligence (AI) and digital mediation, which function as infrastructures of meaning, recognition, and coordination. Developed under the PRISMA-ScR and Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) guidelines, this study conducts an interdisciplinary scoping review of scholarly publications between 2000 and 2025 to examine how identity processes are conceptualized at the intersection of AI, secularization, and digital culture. From the systematic selection of 55 studies, five recurring analytical axes were identified: digitally mediated hybrid identities; AI as an ethical and social co-agent in identity formation; intersectional dynamics involving gender, ethnicity, and spirituality; tensions between authenticity, surveillance, and performativity; and interdisciplinary gaps in theoretical integration. The findings suggest that contemporary secularization processes are frequently framed as involving not the disappearance of transcendence, but its symbolic reconfiguration within technologically mediated environments, where algorithmic systems participate in shaping agency, evaluation, and social belonging. In response to these patterns, the Post-Secular Algorithmic Identity Model (PSIM) is proposed as a heuristic framework that synthesizes convergent insights across sociology of secularization, digital studies, psychology of selfhood, and AI ethics, conceptualizing identity as emerging within interdependent techno-moral environments.