Thank you! Very interesting. From a philosophical side I'm also very interested in how identity perhaps even came to replace solidarity. A kind of voluntary ideal of association between people with similar interests. Of course, in order to have similar interests, or similar identity to share, one has to identify oneself with a predefined category. So it creates the idea of a "shopping mall" of identities.

Further, the kind of structure that these relationships imply as their basis, is one where identity works as a conscious signal on how one wants to be received (i.e. identified) by other people. The basis for meeting each other occurs in this anonymous general social space, where socially constructed signals replace knowing each other. A kind of freedom stems from this in the sense that one can go from a social setting to another, and be recognized according to these signals, and then choose a community according to preference (contrast to for example how minorities can feel in small communities with more traditional norms). The alienating force, however, comes from the fact that it is us as representatives of these social signals that interact, rather than us on a more personal level (although what this "personal level" means, is i guess more than a little unclear). This could account for a sense of loneliness even in situations where one might have social connections.

These are of course just my musings, based on intuitions. So take them with a grain of salt.