Journal of Northeastern University(Social Science) ›› 2025, Vol. 27 ›› Issue (4): 17-23.DOI: 10.15936/j.cnki.1008-3758.2025.04.003

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Identity Alienation and Ethical Reflection in the Field of Digital Consumption

Yuying SUN   

  1. School of Humanities,Dalian University of Technology,Dalian 116024,China
  • Received:2024-04-17 Online:2025-07-25 Published:2025-08-08

Abstract:

Consumption constitutes a crucial means of shaping and manifesting people’s identity. In the digital era, technological advancements have driven the transformation of consumption into digital consumption, leading to corresponding changes in people’s identity. Digital consumption has led to the alienation of people’s identity, which is prominently manifested in three forms of alienation: the symbolization of digital consumption has masked people’s authentic identity needs, resulting in the disguised alienation of identity; the surveillance of digital consumption has eroded people’ identity autonomy, resulting in osmotic alienation of identity; and the entertainment-oriented nature of digital consumption has diminished identity sensibility, resulting in addictive patterns of alienation. In this regard, it is imperative to cultivate independent consciousness to satisfy people’s authentic identity needs, establish regulated consumption norms to safeguard people’s identity autonomy, and foster rational value systems to enhance people’s identity sensibility, thereby achieving the transcendence of alienation and ethical construction of identity in the field of digital consumption.

Key words: digital consumption, identity, digital ethics

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