Internet and, Social Identity The Case of Students of Kurdestan University

The present paper aims at investigating the impacts of Internet usage on student's social identity. Students are the biggest virtual space users. Presence in virtual space, whether for professional purposes or for amusement and either continuously or irregularly for special functions of virtual space, leaves deep impact on different dimensions of student's social identity. Theoretically, the article is based on an integrated conceptual framework by which main questions and hypotheses are developed. Drawing on a survey of 400 professional and recreational internet users, the results show that the exposure to virtual space reduces the ethnic identity and promotes the formation and strength of national and cosmopolitan identities, particularly regarding professional users. Yet, the strengthening impact of uses of Internet on students, concerns cosmopolitan identity. Also, the correlation between the various aspects of social identity and the level of consumption is to some extent different from the type of consumption. Thus, the virtual space can be considered as an opportunity for reflectivity of identity boundaries, reduction of the particularity and promotion of universalism.