Artificial Intelligence and the Reconfiguration of Academic Identity Economies: An Identity Group Theory Analysis of Legitimacy, Recognition, and Knowledge Production

Abstract Book of the 10th World Conference on Social Sciences and Humanities

Year: 2026

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Artificial Intelligence and the Reconfiguration of Academic Identity Economies: An Identity Group Theory Analysis of Legitimacy, Recognition, and Knowledge Production

Dr. Derek Barker-Ciganik

ABSTRACT:

The rapid integration of artificial intelligence into academic research, teaching, and publication is transforming not only the technical processes of knowledge production but also the identity structures that govern scholarly legitimacy. Existing debates on AI in higher education have largely focused on ethics, plagiarism, efficiency, or pedagogical disruption. This paper argues that such approaches insufficiently address the deeper sociological implications of AI as a force capable of destabilizing established academic identity economies. Drawing on Identity Group Theory (IGT), this study conceptualizes academia as a complex system of interlocking identity groups in which recognition, legitimacy, and resource allocation regulate participation, authority, and institutional status. Within this framework, AI technologies function as disruptive agents that challenge traditional mechanisms of authorship, expertise, peer recognition, and epistemic gatekeeping. AI-assisted scholarship raises fundamental questions regarding who may legitimately claim intellectual authority, how academic labour is valued, and whether institutional systems can preserve coherent standards of legitimacy amid technological transformation. The paper explores how universities, journals, funding systems, and disciplinary communities may respond through regulatory adaptation, defensive exclusion, or structural reconfiguration. By positioning AI not merely as a technological innovation but as a catalyst for identity-economic restructuring, this study offers a novel interdisciplinary framework for understanding the future of academic institutions. It contributes to social theory, higher education studies, and communication research by demonstrating that AI’s most profound impact may lie in its capacity to reorganize the recognition systems upon which academic identity itself depends.

Keywords: Identity Group Theory (IGT); Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education; Academic Identity Economies; Recognition and Legitimacy; Knowledge Production