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Digital Use As a Mechanism to Accrue Economic and Symbolic Capital: A Bourdieusian Perspective
Abstract
The digital divide is a social side effect of the information age. The technological means that enables people to band together also serves as a wall to separate and stratify populations that have access to it, and the skills required to acquire information through it, and those who do not. This study examines the "second level" digital divide, which characterizes the surfing patterns of those connected to the internet, between the Jewish majority and Arab minority in Israeli society. The goals of this paper were: to present the digital divide between these two groups; to examine the connection between digital uses and economic and symbolic capital and to characterize the link between the digital divide and social stratification.
The study is based on the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics Annual Social Survey data, collected by means of face-to-face interviews conducted in 2011 among 5,872 interviewees aged 20-65 years old.
Jews were found to have an advantage over Arabs in terms of internet access and capital-enhancing digital uses. Capital-enhancing digital uses were found to be useful for predicting between-group gaps in income level, beyond the impact of classic socio-demographic factors such as education and language proficiency. Moreover, capital-enhancing digital uses were the factor that transformed the gap in social benefits at the workplace between Jews and Arabs from significant to insignificant, after controlling for other socio-demographic and labor market variables. In addition, a positive correlation between capital-enhancing uses and occupational prestige was found. This finding indicates that the investment in digital literacy in the Arab sector in the long run may contribute to narrowing gaps on a national basis in Israeli society. However, digital technology can also serve as a mobility channel for the Arab minority group to attain social and economic equality with the Jewish majority.
... In this study, economic capital was defined as individuals' income and assets that can be 'immediately and directly converted to money and may be institutionalized in the form of property rights' based on the definitions presented by Marx (1867) and Bourdieu (1986) [1,20]. With reference to Caro et al. (2014) and Lissitsa (2015), 'income', 'house price' (a factor that has become increasingly important in Korea in recent years), and 'satisfaction with household income' were examined in this study (see Table 1) [56,57]. ...
... In this study, economic capital was defined as individuals' income and assets that can be 'immediately and directly converted to money and may be institutionalized in the form of property rights' based on the definitions presented by Marx (1867) and Bourdieu (1986) [1,20]. With reference to Caro et al. (2014) and Lissitsa (2015), 'income', 'house price' (a factor that has become increasingly important in Korea in recent years), and 'satisfaction with household income' were examined in this study (see Table 1) [56,57]. ...
This study analyses old-age capital in its economic, cultural, and social components, in terms of how it impacts on depression in the elderly, comparing urban and rural regions. Our comparative analysis in urban and rural areas focuses on South Korea, using the Korean Welfare Panel Data from 2012 to 2020. Time-series trends and variables measuring capital and depression in older adults were examined in panel data analyses. Depression among the Korean elderly was at a similar level in urban and rural areas, whereas satisfaction regarding income levels, leisure life, and social relationships was higher for older adults in rural areas. We also found that the higher the economic capital, the higher the leisure life satisfaction (cultural capital), and the higher the social relationship satisfaction (social capital), the lower the rates of depression. Finally, depression among the urban elderly did not decrease as house prices increased as a component of economic capital, and depression decreased among groups participating in volunteer activities as part of the social capital of the rural elderly. In accordance with the socioemotional selectivity theory, older adults in rural areas in Korea have an advantage in terms of cultural capital due to their environment, whereas the psychosocial environment theory is relevant to urban elderly people experiencing relative deprivation in terms of economic capital.
... For the most part, they live in geographical peripheries (Katz & Cohen, 2021). Although the teachers of the students assessed in the current study did not report problems accessing remote instructions, these families have a lower income and lack a strong digital infrastructure (Lissitsa, 2015). Another possibility, supported by the literature, is that differences may arise due to a difference in the effectiveness of remote instruction (Förster et al., 2023). ...
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has forced unexpected changes to ordinary societal life, including the education system. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, multiple aspects of schooling were affected, including an unexpected shift to the home environment and emphasis on online instruction, which affected children's mental health as well as their social, psychological, and academic functioning. Very few studies have addressed the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on handwriting and its underlying skills typically acquired in kindergarten and first grade. Aims: This study aimed to examine whether students' handwriting and underlying grapho-motor skills were altered following the COVID-19 pandemic period. Sample: This study included 200 Arab Israeli second graders (99 girls). Methods: We compared measures (visual-motor integration, motor-coordination, visual perception, repeated symbol writing, and sequential-memory measures) of second-grade Arab Israeli students following the withdrawal of the COVID-19 restrictions (N = 100; 50 girls, assessed in February 2022) with second graders who attended the same schools one year before the pandemic outbreak (N = 100; 49 girls, assessed in February 2019). Results: The results show that children who attended kindergarten and first grade during the pandemic had poorer scores on each of the styli-related grapho-motor tests, while the two groups were comparable in their visual perception and verbal short-term memory tests. Moreover, students in the COVID-19 cohort relied more on grapho-motor skills for handwriting production than pre-COVID-19 students. Conclusions: Thus, educational institutions and policymakers should plan and execute literacy programs that effectively focus on and support students' grapho-motor and handwriting skills.
... De hecho, las personas jóvenes con mayores recursos tienden a adoptar más frecuentemente aquellos usos de Internet que permiten aumentar su capital económico, social y cultural. Trátase de usos que brindan a los jóvenes internautas oportunidades de movilidad ascendente que otros tipos de actividades online, de corte más lúdico, no proporcionan (Lissitsa 2015). Esta tendencia se ha podido observar también en internautas adultos, poniendo además de manifiesto el impacto negativo que la edad tienen en la adopción de usos avanzados de Internet ( Buchi, Just y Latzer 2015; van Deursen y van Dijk 2014). ...
El comercio electrónico es un uso avanzado de Internet cada vez más difundido entre la población. Sin embargo, hay razones para pensar que las desigualdades originadas por la tercera brecha digital hagan que esta difusión no sea uniforme. Usando el caso de estudio español y los datos del Instituto Nacional de Estadística, se quiere averiguar si el nivel de recursos educativos, materiales y digitales de los internautas favorece la adopción de este uso de Internet y si ayuda a evitar los problemas que de ello se pueden desprender (productos defectuosos, problemas en el cobro, etc.). Para ello, se implementan un modelo de regresión logística y una regresión de Poisson. Los resultados muestran que, en línea con los planteamientos de la desigualdad digital, los internautas con mayor nivel de recursos incorporan más fácilmente el comercio electrónico en sus vidas diarias y tienen mayor probabilidad de evitar los problemas a ello asociados.
... In fact, young people with greater educational and socioeconomic resources tend to adopt uses of the internet that allow them to increase their economic, social and cultural capital with greater frequency. In short, such uses provide young users with opportunities for upward mobility that other types of online activities, of a more recreational nature, do not (Lissitsa, 2015). These kinds of internet use are related to: online content creation, news consumption, health and educational information seeking, job hunting, and participation in online political actions. ...
The second level digital divide is generated by a combination of two factors. Firstly, the adoption of advantageous internet uses is strongly related to internet users’ material and educational resources. The higher the level of these resources, the higher the probability that advantageous internet uses will be adopted. Secondly, internet users’ offline resources have an influence on their digital skills. On the other hand, and according to the third level digital divide, advantageous internet use in not beneficial per se. In order to obtain tangible benefits from it, an adequate level of digital skills is required. In this paper, the Spanish case is used to study second and third level digital divides in relation to e-government. Results show the importance of educational and online resources, as well as higher levels of digital skills, in enhancing the probability of being able to use the internet to interact with the public administration and with government agencies. These results raise important questions in terms of digital citizenship and the democratic divide
... For example, Rojas and Abril (2009) maintained that the Internet provides almost unlimited opportunities as an essential resource of information on education, business, shopping, traveling, and health-care issues. The Internet offers users great opportunities and resources for promoting their careers, work, education, and social status (DiMaggio, Hargittai, Celeste, & Shafer, 2004; Hargittai & Hinnant, 2008; Kim & Kim, 2001; Mossberger, Tolbert, & Stansbury, 2003; Van Dijk, 2005; Zillien & Hargittai, 2009), and enhancing income and social mobility (Lissitsa, 2015), all of which correlate positively with individual well-being. The appropriate use of the Internet in areas such as online news, online forums, and online counseling, etc., can help to promote self-efficacy, psychological empowerment , lifelong learning, and a higher quality of life (Fowler, Gentry, & Reisenwitz, 2015; Hu & Leung, 2003; Leung, 2010; Lissitsa & Chachashvili-Bolotin, 2016). ...
... For example, Rojas and Abril (2009) maintained that the Internet provides almost unlimited opportunities as an essential resource of information on education, business, shopping, traveling, and health-care issues. The Internet offers users great opportunities and resources for promoting their careers, work, education, and social status (DiMaggio, Hargittai, Celeste, & Shafer, 2004; Hargittai & Hinnant, 2008; Kim & Kim, 2001; Mossberger, Tolbert, & Stansbury, 2003; Van Dijk, 2005; Zillien & Hargittai, 2009), and enhancing income and social mobility (Lissitsa, 2015), all of which correlate positively with individual well-being. The appropriate use of the Internet in areas such as online news, online forums, and online counseling, etc., can help to promote self-efficacy, psychological empowerment , lifelong learning, and a higher quality of life (Fowler, Gentry, & Reisenwitz, 2015; Hu & Leung, 2003; Leung, 2010; Lissitsa & Chachashvili-Bolotin, 2016). ...
Purpose
Traditionally, demographic factors have been recognized as important factors of social capital accumulation. Owing to the differences in social structure and relationships resulted from the Internet development, the social capital accumulation mechanism is likely different. Hence, this study investigated the significance of the demographic factors and the Internet-related factors (Internet mobilization, collective identity, and digital literacy) of social capital accumulation nowadays, so as to understand the factors contributing to social capital accumulation nowadays, and reflect upon the applicability of traditional social capital accumulation mechanism.
Design/methodology/approach
There were 1,747 participants aged between 13 and 30 taking part in this quantitative study. Correlation analysis was performed to find out the relationship of participants' demographic background and Internet-related factors with offline and online social capital. Structural equation modeling, hierarchical regression analysis, and mediation analysis was performed to investigate how these factors were related to the social capital accumulated from the Internet.
Findings
Results showed that demographic background and engagement in Internet activities affected the acquisition of social capital from the Internet. Digital literacy displayed the largest mediating effect on online social capital accumulation. Corresponding implications were discussed.
Originality/value
Informed by the literature and theories of social capital, this study investigates the mechanism of online social capital accumulation by exploring its contributing factors.
Based on data from a nationwide Annual Social Survey, the current study investigated the correlation between digital variables and perceived employability among the Jewish majority and Arab minority in Israel.In line with the human capital theory, Internet use for study and digital skills was positively correlated with perceived employability for the Jewish majority. Our findings among Arab participants only partially support our hypotheses. The positive correlation between digital skills and perceived employability corresponds to human capital theory. In contrast, our findings show negative effects for obtaining online services from government offices and e-mail use on perceived employability. These findings should be taken into consideration by e-government media authorities and policymakers, as e-government media have a strong influence on public opinion.
Based on data from the nationwide Annual Social Survey of the CBS in Israel and in-depth interviews, the current study investigated the association between Internet use and the perceived optimal marriage age for both genders among singles aged 20–45 in Israel. Respondents of both genders who use the Internet for seeking information reported a higher perceived optimal marital age than those who do not. The effect of social media use on perceived optimal marital age for both genders was insignificant. Sifting through the great quantity and variety of possible matches on the many CMC sites may increase the period of searching and push off the prospective marital age. In light of these findings, the erosion of the digital divide may have important individual and social consequences.
As Internet use grows globally, the digital divide has shifted beyond concerns about access and adoption to more subtle questions of skill, usage, and capital, and to new venues such as social networking sites (SNSs). Do digital divides persist across adoption/non-adoption of SNSs, across different SNSs, and across different capital-enhancing activities used on those SNSs? The current study analyzes a context where social ties are more salient for resource access due to untrustworthy institutions, and large gaps exist between elites and non-elites. Demographic divides characterize the 31% of Armenian adults using two major SNSs in 2013: Facebook and Odnoklassniki. Facebook is used more for getting information, while Odnoklassniki more for gaming. However, the divides in SNS usage are much greater than in activity use, with implications for capital enhancement and stratification.
Using data from a large-scale Annual Social Survey of Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, we investigate the correlation between digital skills and occupational prestige among veteran Jews and two minority groups, namely Arabs and immigrants to Israel from the Former Soviet Union (FSU). Our findings show that both minority groups have significant disadvantages in occupational prestige compared to veteran Jews. Although causation cannot be inferred because of the correlational design of our study, digital skills were found to contribute to occupational prestige among veteran Jews and FSU immigrants, beyond the classic socio-demographic factors. The occupational prestige gap between veteran Jews and FSU immigrants was eliminated after controlling for socio-demographic variables and before taking digital skills into consideration. The effect of digital skills on occupational prestige among Arabs was insignificant and after controlling for socio-demographic and digital skills, the gap in occupational prestige between veteran Jews and Arabs remained significant.
Much of the discussion about new technologies and social equality has focused on the oversimplified notion of a "digital divide." Technology and Social Inclusion moves beyond the limited view of haves and have-nots to analyze the different forms of access to information and communication technologies. Drawing on theory from political science, economics, sociology, psychology, communications, education, and linguistics, the book examines the ways in which differing access to technology contributes to social and economic stratification or inclusion. The book takes a global perspective, presenting case studies from developed and developing countries, including Brazil, China, Egypt, India, and the United States.
A central premise is that, in today's society, the ability to access, adapt, and create knowledge using information and communication technologies is critical to social inclusion. This focus on social inclusion shifts the discussion of the "digital divide" from gaps to be overcome by providing equipment to social development challenges to be addressed through the effective integration of technology into communities, institutions, and societies. What is most important is not so much the physical availability of computers and the Internet but rather people's ability to make use of those technologies to engage in meaningful social practices.
The study looks at Jewish ultra-Orthodox women who use modern technology, for purposes that are illegitimate in their community. We analyze women's perceived impact of the Internet on self and others, and find a "third-person effect" in regards to the perception of dangers originating from the Internet. We survey its correlations and possible implications.
This study examines the digital divide between the Jewish majority and Arab minority in Israeli society as manifested by Internet access and patterns of use. The goals of this paper were to examine the digital divide between these two groups and to identify the factors that influence these gaps. The study is based on data from the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics Annual Social Survey, collected in 2011 through face-to-face interviews of 5872 interviewees aged 20-65 years. Jews were found to have an advantage over Arabs in terms of Internet access and in terms of the two types of uses: capital-enhancing and recreational. Our important conclusion is that, theoretically, with background variables being the same, the first-level digital divide between Jews and Arabs can be considered closed; in contrast, the second-level digital divide remains even if human resources in both groups are the same. This gives reason to assume that beyond the impact of human resources, the second-level digital divide between Jews and Arabs originated from their cultural background. Israeli Arabs are a unique minority indigenous group with two affinities - to Israeli modern society (because of citizenship) and to the Arab traditional world (because of their religious and cultural roots). Closing digital gaps requires changes in basic social, economic, and cultural aspects of the Arab sector on the individual level, i.e., personal motivation, as well as on the community level, including collective sociocultural preferences.
The present research focuses on ethnic disparities in standard of living, as reflected in ownership of household goods. The
study examines the extent to which inequality in the possession of household goods is due to ethnic differences in earnings,
wealth, and social and demographic characteristics – that is, family resources – versus ethnic styles and preferences. Using
the 1986–7 Family Expenditure Survey (conducted by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics), three major ethnic groups (i.e.
European-American Jews, Asian-African Jews, and Arabs) are compared. Eleven household items were selected to construct two
scales: labour-saving appliances and leisure-oriented devices. The data reveal that ethnic inequality, which has been repeatedly
observed in the labour market, is also evident with regard to standard of living. The data further demonstrate that the effects
of ethnicity differ considerably for the two types of household goods. What is of particular interest is the fact that the
disparity in ownership of goods (either labour-saving or leisure-oriented) cannot be fully explained by differences in earnings
and wealth, together with social and demographic attributes of the household units. The findings suggest that theoretical
models that are invoked to explain individual performance and outcomes in the labour market, are less useful for understanding
family wellbeing, living standards, and family decisions. Other alternative explanations, including ethnic styles, preferences,
and extra-market family resources, are considered.
In a representative survey of the Dutch population we found that people with low levels of education and disabled people are using the Internet for more hours a day in their spare time than higher educated and employed populations. To explain this finding, we investigated what these people are doing online. The first contribution is a theoretically validated cluster of Internet usage types: information, news, personal development, social interaction, leisure, commercial transaction and gaming. The second contribution is that, based on this classification, we were able to identify a number of usage differences, including those demonstrated by people with different gender, age, education and Internet experience, that are often observed in digital divide literature. The general conclusion is that when the Internet matures, it will increasingly reflect known social, economic and cultural relationships of the offline world, including inequalities.
Because of the growing amount of information on the internet and people’s increasing dependence on information, internet skills should be considered as a vital resource in contemporary society. This article focuses on the differential possession of internet skills among the Dutch population. In two studies, an in-depth range of internet skills are measured by charging subjects assignments to be accomplished on the internet. Subjects were recruited by applying a random stratified sampling method over gender, age, and education. While the level of operational and formal internet skills appeared quite high, the level of information and strategic internet skills is questionable. Whereas education appeared an important contributor to all skill levels, age only appeared a significant contributor to operational and formal skills. The results strengthen the findings that the original digital divide of physical internet access has evolved into a divide that includes differences in skills to use the internet.
■ Although the knowledge gap hypothesis is often mentioned in connection with the social consequences of the Information Society, there is little discussion of its theoretical background or specific empirical evidence. Therefore, this article explores the theoretical potential of the knowledge gap perspective for Internet research and presents data based on two recent Internet surveys, which demonstrate a double digital divide. Access to the Internet in Switzerland is still dominated by well-educated, affluent, young males and between 1997 and 2000 the gap between those who do and those who do not have access widened not narrowed. Furthermore, there are gaps in the use of the Internet too. More educated people use the Internet more actively and their use is more information oriented, whereas the less educated seem to be interested particularly in the entertainment functions of the Internet. ■
This article expands understanding of the digital divide to more nuanced measures of use by examining differences in young adults' online activities. Young adults are the most highly connected age group, but that does not mean that their Internet uses are homogenous. Analyzing data about the Web uses of 270 adults from across the United States, the article explores the differences in 18- to 26-year-olds' online activities and what social factors explain the variation. Findings suggest that those with higher levels of education and of a more resource-rich background use the Web for more “capitalenhancing” activities. Detailed analyses of user attributes also reveal that online skill is an important mediating factor in the types of activities people pursue online. The authors discuss the implications of these findings for a “second-level digital divide,” that is, differences among the population of young adult Internet users.
We investigated differences in Internet use between whites and African Americans in the United States. Although African Americans
are online in impressive numbers, significant disparities in access indicate the presence of a racial divide on the Internet.
Our findings have important implications for public policy seeking to ensure Internet access for all members of our society.
For a growing cohort of Americans Internet tools have become a significant conduitof their social life and work life. The surveys of the Pew Internet and American LifeProject track the diffusion of Internet technologies, revealing significant differences inuse between men and women, young and old, those of different races and ethnicgroups, and those of different socio-economic status. A user typology can be builtaround two variables: the length of time a person has used the Internet and the frequencywith which she or he logs on from home. We contend that use of email helpspeople build their social networks by extending and maintaining friend and familyrelationships
This study examines the relationship between use of Facebook, a popular online social network site, and the formation and maintenance of social capital. In addition to assessing bonding and bridging social capital, we explore a dimension of social capital that assesses one's ability to stay connected with members of a previously inhabited community, which we call maintained social capital. Regression analyses conducted on results from a survey of undergraduate students (N=286) suggest a strong association between use of Facebook and the three types of social capital, with the strongest relationship being to bridging social capital. In addition, Facebook usage was found to interact with measures of psychological well-being, suggesting that it might provide greater benefits for users experiencing low self-esteem and low life satisfaction.
The paper conceptualizes ways to approach meaning, purpose, and components of tools to measure the digital divide. Three arguments are raised in this paper. First, I raise criticism of policymakers who prefer to approach the digital divide from a cost and rapid outputs perspectives, at the expense of a thoughtful analysis of: (i) the purpose of the tool, (ii) the level of observation, and (iii) the method of approaching the data. This article raises the debates and tensions in each one of these levels. Second, I argue that networks and technologies are not a neutral artifact but are political and social spaces in their structure as well as in their content levels. Acknowledging this commits us to look at the context as the important prism through which to conceptualize and measure the digital divide. Third, there are two general types of indices in common use for the measurement of the digital divide(s): focused monotopical indices and comprehensive indices. Monotopical indices are more widely available, while comprehensive ones are rare. I argue that there is a substantial need of policymakers to promote comprehensive indices over monotopical indices. Additionally, the paper compares some comprehensive tools and highlights some characteristics that they lack. Finally, I present a conceptual definition and framework to measure the digital divide as an index, and I propose a set of factors needed if the framework is to be made operational. This is just an initial step towards constructing a practical tool. The strength of the paper resides in its conceptual analysis as to how to approach measurement of the digital divide.
The purpose of this study is to better understand the digital divide by identifying the variety of ways in which people in Europe use the Internet. First, by using cluster analysis on survey data (N=12,666/age: 16-74 years) from Eurostat on Internet usage in Norway, Sweden, Austria, the UK, and Spain, we identified five user types: Non-Users (42%), Sporadic Users (18%), Instrumental Users (18%), Entertainment Users (10%), and Advanced Users (12%). These user types differ in their distributions over country, age, access, household members, and gender. An alarming finding is that 60% of the population was found to be either Non-Users or Sporadic Users, which reflects a large digital divide in Europe. Second, we conducted a logistic regression to identify the predictors for different user types. We found on a cross-national level that age and Internet access are the most salient predictors, whereas gender and household seems to be less relevant. However, the amount of variance explained differs between countries. We also suggested a future increase in the digital divide between the identified user types – a user type divide. The user typology and the identified predictors might help researchers, practitioners, and decision makers to better understand Internet users and the multi-complex variations among individuals and countries. This knowledge will also serve as a means to understand the digital divide by providing a more nuanced perspective on Europeans’ unequal usage of the Internet and participation in an increasingly digital society.
Deliberative democratic public sphere theory has become increasingly popular in Internet-democracy research and commentary. In terms of informal civic practices, advocates of this theory see the Internet as a means for the expansion of citizen deliberation leading to the formation of
rational public opinion through which official decision makers can be held accountable. In this paper I question this public sphere conception as a democratic norm of Internet practice given that there have been sustained critiques of the deliberative conception for failing to account fully
for power, and thus for supporting status quo social and political systems. I examine these claims and argue that while the deliberative conception actually pays more attention to power than some critics argue, it fails to adequately theorize the power relations involved in defining what counts
as legitimate deliberation. Drawing upon post-Marxist discourse theory, I highlight two inter-related factors that are largely ignored in this boundary setting: discursive radicalism and inter-discursive conflict. I argue that to fully account for these two factors we can refer to an agonistic
public sphere position that is also being drawn upon in Internet-democracy research and commentary. In particular, the concept counter-publics, which is deployed in such work, helps us take into account the democratic role of radical exclusion and associated counter-discursive struggles over
the limits of legitimate deliberation. The result is the radicalization of the public sphere conception.
Little academic and policy attention has addressed the `digital divide' among children and young people. This article analyses findings from a national survey of UK 9—19-year-olds that reveal inequalities by age, gender and socioeconomic status in relation to their quality of access to and use of the internet. Since both the extent of use and the reasons for low- and non-use of the internet vary by age, a different explanation for the digital divide is required for children compared with adults. Looking beyond the idea of a binary divide, we propose instead a continuum of digital inclusion. Gradations in frequency of internet use (from non and low users through to weekly and daily users) are found to map onto a progression in the take-up of online opportunities among young people (from basic through moderate to broad and then all-round users), thus beginning to explain why differences in internet use matter, contributing to inclusion and exclusion. Demographic, use and expertise variables are all shown to play a role in accounting for variations in the breadth and depth of internet use.
A collection of research reports on policy issues involving telecommunications, particularly the Internet.
Until the 1980s, it was presumed that technical change in most communications services could easily be monitored from centralized state and federal agencies. This presumption was long outdated prior to the commercialization of the Internet. With the Internet, the long-forecast convergence of voice, video, and text bits became a reality. Legislation, capped by the Telecommunications Act of 1996, created new quasi-standards such as "fair" and "reasonable" for the FCC and courts to apply, leading to nonstop litigation and occasional gridlock. This book addresses some of the many telecommunications areas on which public policy makers, corporate strategists, and social activists must reach agreement. Topics include the regulation of access, Internet architecture in a commercial era, communications infrastructure development, the Digital Divide, and information policy issues such as intellectual property and the retransmission of TV programming via the Internet.
There is widespread concern that the growth of the Internet is exacerbating inequalities between the information rich and poor. Digital Divide examines access and use of the Internet in 179 nations world-wide. A global divide is evident between industrialized and developing societies. A social divide is apparent between rich and poor within each nation. Within the online community, evidence for a democratic divide is emerging between those who do and do not use Internet resources to engage and participate in public life. Part I outlines the theoretical debate between cyber-optimists who see the Internet as the great leveler. Part II examines the virtual political system and the way that representative institutions have responded to new opportunities on the Internet. Part III analyzes how the public has responded to these opportunities in Europe and the United States and develops the civic engagement model to explain patterns of participation via the Internet.
A timely study by two well-known scholars offers a theoretically informed account of the political sociology of Israel. The analysis is set within its historical context as the authors trace Israel's development from Zionist settlement in the 1880s, through the establishment of the state in 1948, to the present day. Against this background the authors speculate on the relationship between identity and citizenship in Israeli society, and consider the differential rights, duties and privileges that are accorded different social strata. In this way they demonstrate that, despite ongoing tensions, the pressure of globalization and economic liberalization has gradually transformed Israel from a frontier society to one more oriented towards peace and private profit. This unexpected conclusion offers some encouragement for the future of this troubled region. However, Israel's position towards the peace process is still subject to a tug-of-war between two conceptions of citizenship: liberal citizenship on the one hand, and a combination of the remnants of republican citizenship associated with the colonial settlement with an ever more religiously defined ethno-nationalist citizenship, on the other.
The Economic Impact of Digital Technologies offers a profoundly illuminating examination of ICT transformations in Europe and its critical role in greater social inequality. It presents scholars and policy makers with original and practical tools to benchmark and assess the ICT diffusion and inclusion process. The core message of the book is that a coherent European strategy for embedding ICT technologies in society is long overdue.
Through increasing access to knowledge and facilitating widespread discourse, information and communication technology (ICT) is believed to hold the potential to level many societal barriers. Using national probability samples of United States adults from 1983 to 2006, I examine how gender, ethnicity, and education interacted with generation to influence computer ownership and Internet use. Narrower digital divides in more recent generations can mean greater future digital equality through cohort replacement. However, although gender is now of far less consequence than previously in ICT access and use, significant divides, especially in PC ownership and selected Internet uses have widened by ethnicity and education over five birth cohorts. On the other hand, results from earlier research interpreted as "aging effects" are most likely generational influences instead. Implications of these findings are discussed.
The worldwide expansion and diversification of higher education systems has sparked growing interest in
the stratification of students according to higher education institution and field of study. This article
focuses on Israel, where higher education has experienced significant expansion and diversification during
the past two decades. Using generalized ordered logistic regression models, the study analyses vertical
and horizontal ethno-religious inequality. The findings indicate that Ashkenazim, the privileged Jewish
group, remain the most advantaged regarding enrollment in higher education, but their advantage over
other veteran Jewish groups is mainly owing to areas of specialization in high school and achievement on
the tests that serve as admission criteria to the higher education institutions. Among the enrollees, controlling
for high school history reveals that the disadvantaged Jewish groups, Mizrachim and new immigrants,
have higher odds than Ashkenazim of enrolling in lucrative programmes. Muslim, Druze, and
Christian Arabs are disadvantaged regarding both the vertical (access) and horizontal (fields of study) dimensions, regardless of high school history and previous achievements.
This study added communication Internet skills to an existing skill framework of operational, formal, information and strategic skills. We investigated how people deal with inadequate skill levels by identifying support sources. Furthermore, we investigated which of the Internet skills actually matter for attaining beneficial Internet outcomes and whether support sources employed moderate these effects. Results of a large scale survey revealed three support patterns: independents, social support seekers and formal help seekers. The newly added communication skills prove to be an important addition since they have an independent effect on beneficial Internet use. The group of independent Internet users benefited more from Internet use than formal help seekers and much more than social support seekers. Internet communication skills hold the potential for achieving a high degree of independence in using the Internet by compensating for information skills so as to attain beneficial Internet outcomes.
This paper presents a case study of a community technology center (CTC) located in a lower income neighborhood of a high-tech city. Participant observation and interview-based research determined that while the CTC was popular among its targeted constituents, its use was not consistent with what the center’s supporters and policymakers envisioned. The emergent discrepancy between policymaker rhetoric and actual use is analyzed in light of different understandings of how internet access is perceived as a social good by policymakers, funders, and among disadvantaged communities. The article raises questions and suggests policy implications regarding how those most at-risk use community technology centers, how those centers may be funded, and how the relationship of computers and the social good must be reconceptualized to better address the issues of the digital divide that extend beyond the technological realm.
During the last decade, information and communication technology has been given an increasingly large importance in our society. There seems to be a consensus regarding the necessity of supporting and developing school-based digital competence. In order to sustain digital inclusion, schools need to identify digital deficiencies and digital achievements. The concept of digital competence is scrutinized and discussed. This paper presents a research study including 4087 students from 24 upper secondary schools. The aim of the study was to scrutinize factors predicting students' digital competence, here operationalised as Digital judgements, To acquire and process digital information and To produce digital information. Analysis revealed substantial variation in digital competence between schools and within schools. The conditions at home, i.e. language integration and cultural capital, together with mastery orientation and academic aspirations did predict digital competence, and explained a substantial share of the total variation in digital competence. There are differences in what students mastered with ICT, and therefore, the students have various requirements. Further, the students attend heterogenic schools facing different kinds of challenges. Hopefully, the schools and teachers are willing to use the results from the test, and moreover, the test results can contribute to needs-based interventions and follow-ups.
As the Internet has become increasingly widespread in the world, some researchers suggested a conceptual shift of the digital divide from material access to actual use. Although this shift has been incorporated into the more broad social inclusion agenda, the social consequences of the digital divide have not yet received adequate attention. Recognizing that political knowledge is a critical social resource associated with power and inclusion, this study empirically examines the relationship between the digital divide and the knowledge gap. Based on the 2008–2009 American National Election Studies panel data, this research found that, supporting the shift of the academic agenda, socioeconomic status is more closely associated with the informational use of the Internet than with access to the Internet. In addition, socioeconomic status is more strongly related to the informational use of the Internet than with that of the traditional media, particularly newspapers and television. More importantly, the differential use of the Internet is associated with a greater knowledge gap than that of the traditional media. These findings suggest that the digital divide, which can be better defined as inequalities in the meaningful use of information and communication technologies, matters more than its traditional counterpart.
The role of traditional media and the Internet in relation to young people’s political participation has attracted a great deal of scholarly attention. Starting from a notion of differential media use and an encompassing notion of political participation, this article tests the relationships between media use (newspaper, television, and Internet) and offline and online forms of political participation. Findings from a national survey (n = 2,409, age 16 to 24) reveal that a variety of Internet uses are positively related with different forms of political participation, whereas the relationship between most uses of traditional media and participation are weak, albeit positive. The study rejects the predictive power of duration of media use but finds support for the type of media use. Positive relationships between online communication and noninformational uses of the Internet vis-à-vis participation are found. The research demonstrates how a wider and more contemporary conception of political participation, together with more detailed measures of media use, can help to gain better insight in the roles media can play in affecting participatory behavior among the Internet generation.
This article explores the use of e-government services from the perspective of digital divides. First, it aims to find out which socio-demographic, economic and geographical factors predict the use of e-government services. Second, the article aims to show whether these factors moderate the way in which the time spent on the Internet is associated with the use of e-government services. The article is based on survey data (N=612) collected in Finland in May–June 2011 and is analysed by using a logistic regression modelling. Results show that gender and income moderate the link between the Internet and e-government service use. The more that women use the Internet, the more they use the government's electronic services. However, among men, the use of e-services does not increase similarly with the use of the Internet. Regarding income indicators, results imply that e-service use increases with Internet use but only among the respondents with low income levels. Additionally, the article shows that education, children, income and the size of the place of residence have major effects on the use of the government's e-services. Lastly, the empirical results are briefly discussed in relation to the digital divide discussion and some policy implications are presented.
Contributing to previous research that has identified differences in connection speed, user skill, and experience as mechanisms affecting digital divides among Internet users, this paper explores whether location of use should be considered a factor that limits or facilitates individual efforts to apply the Internet toward beneficial activities. At some locations, Internet users enjoy high levels of autonomy, while at others, users may be regulated by restrictions or concerns about surveillance. Results of analyses performed on Current Population Survey (CPS) data suggest that users who have many connection points including home are most likely to conduct four particular activities for which previous research has demonstrated some tangible benefit to users: searching for health and product information online, making purchases online, and banking online. Most broadly, results support the proposition that differences in Internet access point quality can be identified as a previously unexplored digital divide among users, and also that differences in locations of use can partly explain gaps in participation in some beneficial activities by income and education.
Satisfactory class concepts need to identify the mechanisms that produce the consequences of class membership, be they class conflicts or differences in lifestyles. Using a broad conception of property rights, the article proposes to base class concepts on personal wealth, that is, the assets a person controls. Two main class concepts are proposed: class as life conditions, based on a person's total wealth, and class as exploitation, based on a person's control over assets that produce economic rents. The former concept corresponds to empirical and Weberian class concepts, the latter to Marxist and neo-Marxist class concepts. The article shows that the class concept based on rent-producing assets accounts for recent developments in capitalism.
This paper looks at the prevalence of creative activity and sharing in an age when the barriers to disseminating material have been considerably lowered compared with earlier times. The authors use unique data to explore the extent to which young adults create video, music, writing and artistic photography, as well as the prevalence of sharing such material online. Findings suggest that despite new opportunities to engage in such distribution of content, relatively few people are taking advantage of these recent developments. Moreover, neither creation nor sharing is randomly distributed among a diverse group of young adults. Consistent with existing literature, creative activity is related to a person's socioeconomic status as measured by parental schooling. The novel act of sharing online, however, is considerably different by gender with men much more likely to engage in it. However, once internet user skill is controlled for, men and women are equally likely to post their materials on the Web.
Research that considers Internet skills often lacks theoretical justifications and does not go beyond basic button knowledge. There is a strong need for a measurement framework that can guide future research. In this article, operational definitions for measuring Internet skills are proposed, applied in two large-scale performance tests, and tested for reliability and validity. The framework consists of four Internet skills: operational, formal, information, and strategic Internet skills. The framework proves to be a powerful means for understanding the complexity of the Internet skills that people employ when they use the Internet. The reliability of the framework is supported by obtaining similar results from two studies focusing on different contexts. The validity of the framework is investigated by comparing the results with external standards that also provide an indication of Internet skill levels.
Data from four types of research—news diffusion studies, time trends, a newspaper strike, and a field experiment—are consistent
with the general hypothesis that increasing the flow of news on a topic leads to greater acquisition of knowledge about that
topic among the more highly educated segments of society. Whether the resulting knowledge gap closes may depend partly on
whether the stimulus intensity of mass media publicity is maintained at a high level, or is reduced or eliminated at a point
when only the more active persons have gained that knowledge.
Much research on the "digital divide" presumes that adults who do not use the Internet are economically disadvantaged, yet little research has tested this premise. After discussing several mechanisms that might produce differences in earnings growth between workers who do and do not use the Internet, we use data from the Current Population Survey to examine the impact of Internet use on changes in earnings over 13-month intervals at the end of the "Internet boom." Our analyses reveal robustly significant positive associations between Web use and earnings growth, indicating that some skills and behaviors associated with Internet use were rewarded by the labor market. Consistent with human-capital theory, current use at work had the strongest effect on earnings. In contrast to economic theory (which has led economists to focus exclusively on effects of contemporaneous workplace technology use), workers who used the Internet only at home also did better, suggesting that users may have benefited from superior access to job information or from signaling effects of using a fashionable technology. The positive association between computer use and earnings appears to reflect the effect of Internet use, rather than use of computers for offline tasks. These results suggest that inequality in access to and mastery of technology is a valid concern for students of social stratification.
This reserach examines wealth distribution across ethnic groups in Israel and evaluates the role of labor market rewards and intergenerational transfers in producing ethnic disparities. Israel SHARE data from 2005-2006 are used in the analyses. The findings reveal considerable ethnic disparities in wealth. Wealth disparities are most pronounced when Israeli-born Jews are compared with Arabs and with immigrants from the Former Soviet Union. Further analysis suggests that wealth buildup in Israel is influenced by two major sources: income flows and inheritance. The differential impact of the two sources on wealth disparities can be best understood when considering the unique position of each ethnic group in Israeli society.
People who have grown up with digital media are often assumed to be universally savvy with information and communication technologies. Such assumptions are rarely grounded in empirical evidence, however. This article draws on unique data with information about a diverse group of young adults’ Internet uses and skills to suggest that even when controlling for Internet access and experiences, people differ in their online abilities and activities. Additionally, findings suggest that Internet know-how is not randomly distributed among the population, rather, higher levels of parental education, being a male, and being white or Asian American are associated with higher levels of Web-use skill. These user characteristics are also related to the extent to which young adults engage in diverse types of online activities. Moreover, skill itself is positively associated with types of uses. Overall, these findings suggest that even when controlling for basic Internet access, among a group of young adults, socioeconomic status is an important predictor of how people are incorporating the Web into their everyday lives with those from more privileged backgrounds using it in more informed ways for a larger number of activities.
It is often argued that changes in curriculum have implications for assessment and vice versa. IT can be used to enhance existing
(standardized) testing practices by making tests more adaptive to serve diverse needs. In addition the use of information
technology in the curriculum often aims to contribute to the mastery of complex cognitive skills, which cannot be determined
by means of simple, standardized tests alone. IT offers a range of new possibilities for assessment, such as the use of multimodal
representations, digital portfolios and simulations. In addition IT is also a new knowledge domain in itself that needs to
be assessed. This chapter will synthesize research on the potential of IT to change assessment practices as well as examine
the consequences of increasing use of IT in the curriculum for the assessment of student learning.
Few attention was devoted to the relative impact exerted by differential university access and credentialing patterns on the intrasocial stratification of subordinate groups. The paper investigates the issue among Palestinian Arabs in Israel, along religious, socioeconomic and gender lines, as well as in comparison to respective trends of the Jewish majority. Findings suggest that, while inequalities in access, retention and graduation rates at university level persist between Jews and Palestinian Arabs; for the latter, the combined effects of labor-market structure and regulative sectorial state policies, have determined considerably the relative impact of social group of origin on university enrollment, retention and graduation rates. The various implications of these findings are then discussed, urging further, and more elaborate, research into their socioeconomic and political consequences.
This study extends the conventional and superficial notion of measuring digital skills by proposing definitions for operational, formal, information and strategic skills. The main purpose was to identify individual skill related problems that users experience when navigating the Internet. In particular, lower levels of education and aging seem to contribute to the amount of experienced operational and formal skill related problems. With respect to information skills, higher levels of education seem to perform best. Age did not seem to contribute to information skill related problems. Results did reveal that age had a negative effect on selecting irrelevant search results. Individual strategic Internet skill related problems occurred often, with the exception of subjects with higher levels of education. Younger subjects experienced far less operational and formal skill related problems, but there was no difference regarding information and strategic skill related problems.
The popularity of Internet use has generated a need for reliable and valid Internet attitude assessments. Current practices in the development and validation of Internet attitude scales have raised several methodological and practical issues. The purpose of this study was to develop general Internet attitudes measure as well as to explore the psychometric and methodological concerns surrounding the construct validity of existing Internet attitude scales. A three-study sequence was conducted that included the development and refinement of the Attitudes Towards the Internet Scale (ATIS), an investigation of differences between Internet and paper-and-pencil administrations, and differential item and person functioning. The ATIS demonstrated appropriate psychometric qualities and is suitable for general use. Suggestions for future researchers and practitioners interested in the assessment of Internet attitudes are provided.
Based on the PISA data in 2003 and 2006, this paper develops a hierarchical linear model to identify multi-level explanatory variables of the divide of adolescents’ self-reported digital skills. At the country-level, the study finds a generally negative relationship between the ICT penetration rate of a country and adolescents’ digital skills, implying that increased ICT penetration rate does not guarantee that adolescents have more chance to learn and use ICTs. Educational expenditure on secondary education is positively related to digital skills in 2006, but not in 2003. At the school-level, whether the school is public or private does not elicit impact on adolescents’ self-reported digital skills; school ICT access is positively related to students’ self-reported digital skills. At the individual-level, self-reported digital skills is affected by home ICT access, adolescents’ Socio-Economic Status, gender and their history of using ICTs. The cross-level interaction effect of ICT penetration rate and home ICT access on self-reported digital skills is significant in the 2003 model, but not significant in the 2006 model. The cross-level interaction effect of ICT penetration rate and school ICT access is significant in the 2006 model. The interaction effect of school ICT access and home ICT access is not supported by the dataset of either year.
Digital competences amongst the younger generations and the role of schools faced with the spread of new youth practices are topics of increasing interest. Some commentators state that, thanks to the intensive use of digital media, young people are developing significant competences that also correspond to important cognitive processes and new learning styles. However, other authors emphasize that there is no evidence about the positive impact of new technological practices on the development of significant cognitive abilities.In this paper we present a research study carried out in Italian schools on adolescents’ (aged 14–16) digital competence. On the basis of a preliminary theoretical model, a digital competence questionnaire was formulated and subsequently administered to a sample of secondary school students.The aim was to verify whether adolescents’ digital skills are limited to simple technical aspects or expand beyond them including a range of more significant knowledge and skills related to a conceptual understanding of technology, socio-relational knowledge and high-order cognitive skills. Like other studies, this research shows that when attention is shifted from strictly technical aspects to critical cognitive and socio-ethical dimensions involved in the use of technologies, students’ knowledge and competences result inadequate. The authors conclude that the optimistic portrayal of younger generations’ digital competences is poorly founded. Furthermore, it is pointed out that understanding students’ digital competence levels through fast assessment tools is a fundamental opportunity for schools to analyse deficiencies and prepare adequate intervention strategies.
Incl. abstract, graphs, tables, bibl. This article analyses higher education among the Palestinian Arab minority in Israel. It traces the main trends since the establishment of the state of Israel and examines the principal factors that have retarded the access of Arabs to higher education. These issues are analysed along with contextual factors that have to do with the structure of the Arab population and the formal policy adopted toward them. In addition, the relationship between higher education and cultural dominance and the prospects for multiculturalism in Israeli academic institutes is explored. The data are based on official statistics, the analysis of official documents, and a field survey conducted at the University of Haifa in 2001, on a representative sample of Arab and Jewish students. The analysis shows that despite the relatively autonomous status of Israeli academic institutions, formal policy on higher education is an extension of policy imposed at the elementary and secondary levels. Higher education reflects power relationships in the wider society, and this serves to reproduce the stratification system and to deepen the cultural hegemony of the majority. Genuine change in the formal policy on access and conditions of minorities in institutions of higher education entails a re-division of power in the wider society and a move towards a multicultural concept. Such change would secure cultural diversity and promote intercultural relations based on equality and equity.
The authors of this paper contend that as Internet penetration increases, students of inequality of access to the new information technologies should shift their attention from the "digital divide" - inequality between "haves" and "have-nots" differentiated by dichotomous measures of access to or use of the new technologies - to digital inequality, by which we refer not just to differences in access, but also to inequality among persons with formal access to the Internet. After reviewing data on Internet penetration, the paper describes five dimensions of digital inequality - in equipment, autonomy of use, skill, social support, and the purposes for which the technology is employed - that deserve additional attention. In each case, hypotheses are developed to guide research, with the goal of developing a testable model of the relationship between individual characteristics, dimensions of inequality, and positive outcomes of technology use. Finally, because the rapidity of organizational as well as technical change means that it is difficult to presume that current patterns of inequality will persist into the future, the authors call on students of digital inequality to study institutional issues in order to understand patterns of inequality as evolving consequences of interactions among firms' strategic choices, consumers' responses, and government policies.