Campaigning for digital equality: the role of digital access attitudes in neoliberal context

Abstract

ABSTRACT Covid-19 has thrust social services into the work of meeting digital needs, and some practitioners are mooting the need for more universal digital access. Yet little is known of societal attitudes towards digital equality and the means to achieving it. This article discusses the sociodemographic origins of digital and digital access attitudes in the context of a neoliberal state. Applying multiple regression of participants’ answers to a campaign poll and content analysis of their comments, we found that: (i) digital access attitudes do not follow from the more widely known attitudes towards technology adoption; (ii) while public and social service professionals have greater sympathy towards digitally vulnerable populations, they also hold more neoliberal views towards how digital resources are to be distributed; and (iii) neoliberal ideology undergirds digital access attitudes. These findings have implications on digital services for social development.