The digital-religious dialectic in Turkey: transformation of religious belief through social media and state power

How is religious life transformed by the demands of visibility and performance?

Our Visiting Fellow Dr Taner Doğan has published a new article in Turkish Studies, which explores this question through the concept of the digital-religious dialectic.

In contemporary Turkey, religion is being reshaped not only by political power, but also by the rhythms of platforms—the demand for visibility, the pressure of performance, and the fragmentation of authority. The result is not simply ‘less religion’ or ‘more religion’, but a transformation in how faith is felt, displayed, negotiated, and contested in everyday life.

Abstract

"This study theorises a digital-religious dialectic in Turkey, showing how social media platforms and populist governance co-shape the remaking of religious belief and identity. Based on semi-structured interviews with Istanbul-based influencers, it examines how they negotiate visibility, self-branding, and audience relationships under political and platform constraints. The article focuses on shifting spiritual practices within the attention economy and analyses how these dynamics affect piety and political resistance. It further theorises the digital-religious dialectic as a recursive, two-way process that moves beyond one-way media effects and linear secularisation."