Traditional Digital Inequalities: Digital Divide

Studying social policy in the digital age

“…In that regard, welfare protection is seen to fall short in many domains. The rapidly growing research agendas around digital exclusion and the existence of a digital underclass (Watling & Rogers, 2012;Helsper & Reisdorf, 2017;Ragnedda, 2020) illustrate stratified inequalities for marginalized groups: old, young, low skilled, migrants, disabled, and work incapacitated.…”

Almost South–South solidarity: The frustration of K-pop fans (but not true fans) in South Africa

“…Digital divides in the mainstream literature have generally been viewed from progressive developmental perspectives; for example, as a state of levels (access, usage, benefits), a mirror of existing socio-economic divides, or in terms of poverty that requires multi-dimensional solutions (Attewell, 2001; Cinnamon, 2020; Hoffman and Novak, 1998; Peter and Valkenburg, 2006; Ragnedda, 2017). Digital capital, a combination of digital competences and technologies, has become a new specific capital that can be accumulated when developmental challenges are overcome (Park, 2017; Ragnedda et al, 2020).…”

“…Weingartner's (2021) recent work on ‘digital omnivorousness’, for instance, measures an interplay of cultural preferences and opportunities; the study controls electronic media such as television, digital screen devices, and technical infrastructure as given for external conditions, which makes sense in this experiment that was conducted in Switzerland. Similar important concepts, such as ‘digital participation’ and ‘digital capital’, are also based on the experiences in locations where 90% of their population is connected (Mihelj et al, 2019; Ragnedda, 2017). While I appreciate these pioneering works, I would question the applicability of those concepts to the realities in the Global South, and Africa in particular, where multiple barriers hinder connectivity: telecommunications infrastructures are centred around big cities, devices and data are costly, electricity is unreliable, and a large share of the population is functionally illiterate, both literally and digitally (S Kim, 2018).…”

Utilising a Critical Realist Lens to Conceptualise Digital Inequality: The Experiences of Less Well-Off Internet Users

“…In academic research, the relationships between individual Internet use and social opportunities are typically understood within the classic sociological problem of structure versus agency. Indeed, numerous academics engaged in issues of digital inequality have engaged with this question, drawing on social theorists such as Bourdieu (Clayton & Macdonald, 2013; Gilbert, 2010), Weber (Ragnedda, 2017; Wessels, 2015), and building on these to develop new theoretical models of digital inequality (Helsper, 2012, Katz & Gonzalez, 2016; Selwyn, 2004; van Dijk, 2005; 2020). Within this domain, as in Sociology more broadly, digital inclusion scholars have tended to privilege either structure or agency, or these concepts have been regarded as inseparable.…”