Despite Castells’ argument about the transformative potential of digital communication technologies for developing the networks of individuals and bringing about social and political changes, critical scholars have continued to raise vigilance against the potentially detrimental consequences of such technologies in social domains. One such issue relates to their impact on (collective) identity-making. Taking as a case study the live streaming of 2016–17 candlelight and Taegukgi rallies in South Korea, this article addresses how a digital communication technology can go further than simply permitting a large-scale mobilization and can reconfigure the meaning of participation in social movements, contributing to the emergence of what we term ‘polemical identity’. We argue that this polemical identity diverges from a more hopeful perspective found in Castells’ account, developing instead through the new semantics of participation that result in, and are triggered by, various practices of Otherizing. This includes searching for, and claiming, one’s own ‘truth’ as a means of bonding with the likeminded. In this process, we illuminate how the relationship between (collective) identity, digital communication technologies, social contexts and institutional power has become more complicated.

尽管 Castells 认为数字通信技术在发展个人网络和带来社会和政治变革方面具有变革潜力，但批判性学者仍继续提高警惕，以防止此类技术在社会领域可能产生的有害后果。其中一个问题与它们对（集体）身份塑造的影响有关。本文以 2016-17 年韩国烛光和太极旗集会的现场直播为例，探讨了数字通信技术如何能够超越简单的大规模动员，并重新配置参与社会运动的意义，促成了我们所说的“争议性身份”的出现。我们认为，这种具有争议性的身份与在 Castells 的描述中发现的更有希望的观点背道而驰，而是通过新的参与语义发展，这种语义导致并由各种他者化实践引发。这包括寻找和宣称自己的“真相”作为与志同道合的人建立联系的一种方式。在这个过程中，我们阐明（集体）身份、数字通信技术、社会背景和制度权力之间的关系如何变得更加复杂。