No abstract

This study used national survey data to determine whether the “digital divide” between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan populations was widening. The findings showed that one's income, age, and education were more closely associated with the use of information technologies than was geographical location. The positive association among status indicators and technology use appeared to be strengthening over time. The study concluded that contrary to utopian predictions of the universal benefits provided by the tools of the digital revolution, innovative uses of information technologies are likely to remain closely associated with social indicators.

This study, based on five national telephone surveys, extends the knowledge gap hypothesis by employing beliefs, rather than knowledge, as the dependent variable, and by comparing education with ideology as independent variables. These changes address epistemological and micro-level critiques of the knowledge gap hypothesis while extending it in new directions. Evidence supported the hypotheses that ideology would be a better predictor than education of beliefs about the existence of global warming, but not its causes, and that the "beliefgap" between conservatives and liberals would grow over time.

This important study of how newspapers address conflict contributes to an understanding of how the content of local newspapers is related to community conditions. In periods of change, newspaper content reflects the concerns of powerful groups within and beyond the community. Ultimately, newspaper reports of both internal conflict and conflict w'th outside groups contribute to the maintenance of community stability and community adjustment to change in the larger social environment.