Identitásmegrzés

Identitásmegrzés is a Hungarian term describing the process by which an actor, often a dominant one, seizes, claims, or instrumentalizes another person’s or group’s identity for strategic ends. The word combines identitás (identity) with megrzés (seizure or grasp). In academic and public discourse it is used to analyze how identities can be treated as usable resources in political, cultural, or commercial contexts.

Conceptually, identitásmegrzés refers to practices that affect how identities are defined, represented, and valued. It can involve data collection and profiling, performative signaling of identity on social platforms, or the strategic use of cultural, ethnic, gendered, or national identities to gain legitimacy, access, or economic advantage. The phenomenon often sits at the intersection of digital culture, identity politics, and power relations, highlighting tensions between authentic self-definition and externally imposed identity scripts.

Implications and critique focus on power dynamics, consent, and the potential harms of identity manipulation. Critics argue that the term can blur lines between voluntary self-expression and coercive or market-driven appropriation. Proponents view identitásmegrzés as a useful analytic to uncover how identities are negotiated, commodified, or weaponized in contemporary society.

Examples are typically hypothetical or drawn from case studies in digital media and politics. They may include campaigns that instrumentalize minority identities for electoral gain, data-driven advertising that treats identity signals as commodities, or media framing that essentializes complex identities for simplification.

See also: identity politics, identity theft, cultural appropriation, data privacy, performativity.