DIGITALIZATION PROCESS AS THE GREAT EQUALIZER. ALTERNATIVE PERSPECTIVE

Digitalization has become an irreversible and widespread process of integrating digital technologies into fundamental social institutions, including the economy, politics, education, family, and religion. We are witnessing the unprecedented phenomenon of social representations through digital transformation, yet the nature of these representations remains incompletely understood. We cannot apply traditional approaches to characterize the process of digitalization merely as evident progress, improvement, or development. A review of the actual impact on social life reveals evidence that digital technologies do not free individuals from subjective control; rather, they liberate control itself from any human (social) oversight. Furthermore, we are witnessing the gradual erosion of the very essence of the 'social' as it undergoes permanent dehumanization. This transformation occurs primarily through the quantification of social events and interactions. The major and ultimate consequence of this process is the obliteration of any qualitative features of social reality, which is the essence of what we understand as social- namely, hierarchy. Thus, we define the process of digitalization as the “great equalization”.