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

This study theorizes 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 analyzes how these dynamics affect piety and political resistance. It further theorizes the digital-religious dialectic as a recursive, two-way process that moves beyond one-way media effects and linear secularization.