FORMATION OF IDENTITY BY MEANS OF SOCIAL STEREOTYPES IN THE CONTEXT OF SOCIAL INTERNET COMMUNICATIONS

Search for identity in cyberspace has a row of peculiarities, as far as a person can have several identities at a time. Identity is seen not as a property, but as a relation, a product of an open process of identification. Subjects of this identification are engaged in the process of social adaptation and its result can never be final and complete. Social stereotypes fulfil henotic and integrative function inside a community, and are one of the basic principles for formation of identity in terms of Internet communication. The process of formation of social stereotypes is characteristic for human consciousness, they can be represented both on verbal and nonverbal levels. Language, sign systems and symbols are the means of circulation of social stereotypes in Internet communication.