Doğan, Tanerİletişim Fakültesi, Yeni Medya ve İletişim Fakültesiİletişim Fakültesi, Yeni Medya ve İletişim Fakültesi2019-06-272019-06-272019Doğan, T. (2019). Islamism, populism, and the new digital media ecosystem, MeCCSA 9-11 January 2019, Scotlandhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12154/811The neoliberal economic policies implemented by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey empowered the modernization process which is one of the main dynamics of transforming traditional societies. As a result of this socio-economic evolution, new institutions and technical developments evolved, without any relation to religion or its institutions (Zubaida, 2011). In fact, this course has accelerated the individualization process of the Islamic educated younger-generation in Turkey, whereas the significance of collective religious identity shrank (Kara, 2014). The expansion of social media platforms has influenced young people’s relationship with religion and faith. The usage of religion and nationalism as a political communication tool by the AKP will focus on a crucial perspective in the political arena. This paper sheds light on the result of a qualitative analysis, based on interviews conducted in Turkey (June 2018) with Imam Hatip (religious) school students born in 2000. The result of these in-depth interviews show how social media is the driving force in religious identity, and how it forms a new self-identity (Giddens, 1991).eninfo:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccessSocial MediaSelf-identityModernizationEducationImam Hatip schoolAKPConference Object