From liquid modernity to algorithmic-fluid modernity: Identity, artificial intelligence and human agency in contemporary society

Abstract

This article re-examines Zygmunt Bauman’s theory of liquid modernity in order to assess its explanatory power in the context of contemporary societies shaped by artificial intelligence, digital platforms and algorithmic infrastructures. Although Bauman’s diagnosis of instability, individualisation and the erosion of durable social forms remains highly influential, it does not fully account for the socio-technical mechanisms that are increasingly shaping social experience.

Building on this limitation, the article proposes the concept of algorithmic-fluid modernity as an extension of Bauman’s framework. The central argument is that contemporary fluidity is no longer produced exclusively by the weakening of institutions and globalisation, but is mediated by infrastructures that collect data, distribute visibility, anticipate behaviours and influence access to opportunities. The theoretical model is articulated through five interdependent transformations: the shift from social fluidity to infrastructure-organised fluidity; the reconfiguration of identity as a process of continuous algorithmic calibration; the shift in power from coercion to anticipation; the differentiated distribution of vulnerability through algorithmic classification; and the reconceptualization of stability as a socio-technical function.

In response to these transformations, the article introduces the concept of “anchors” as resources of continuity that enable coherence to be maintained in conditions of accelerated change. Anchors are conceptualised across five dimensions: meaning, identity, symbolisation, relational recognition, and the socio-technical conditions of autonomy.

By integrating theories of late modernity, critical studies of the digital society and the literature on the governance of artificial intelligence, the article contributes to the development of a humanistic sociological framework for understanding contemporary transformations. It argues that the fundamental question of the age of artificial intelligence is no longer merely who we are, but under what conditions it remains possible to exercise human autonomy and coherence in an environment that constantly measures, anticipates and influences (perhaps even manipulates) behaviours.