DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES: A FIELD OF NEW OPPORTUNITIES OR AN OBSTACLE FOR THE PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL REALIZATION OF PERSONS FROM THE ROMA COMMUNITY

Abstract

In the modern global world, digital technologies are becoming more and more necessary and a mandatorycondition for successful personal and professional realization. We live in a world where digital change and the entryof new technologies into various social spheres have a significant impact on the way each one of us works, buys,communicates and communicates. A number of analyzes are available in the specialized literature, which take intoaccount the fact that through the ongoing digital change, an evolutionary change is taking place in society withsignificant socio-economic consequences, which bring risks and opportunities for profound changes in the socialstructure of society. In order to prevent polarization in society, action is needed to benefit vulnerable individuals andsocial groups. One such action is related to the achievement of equality of opportunity.Thus, not full equality is achieved, but "achieved inequality" (Parsons 2005) which replaces "assigned inequality" asa result of belonging to a certain class, ethnicity or gender by birth. If we have to paraphrase Ralph Dahrendorf'sthesis (RalfDahrendorf 1979), for the digital transition to happen, new technologies must increase the opportunitiesand improve the life chances of the different social groups in society. A research question of great practicalimportance is how new technologies, instead of deepening existing socio-economic inequalities, can create newopportunities for everyone, including vulnerable groups at risk, against whom statistical data show a lag in the use ofthe Internet for professional and personal fulfillment. The recovery and digital transition must be fair and include thedifferent social groups in society. Insufficiently researched in Bulgaria is what are the opportunities and risks thatdigital technologies hide for the representatives of the different ethnic communities.The present report follows the theoretical tradition of the multidimensional stratification approach, founded by MaxWeber, to determine divisions and positions in the social structure of society. On the basis of a series of in-depthinterviews conducted among representatives of the Roma community within the framework of a project on the topic:"Digital divide and social inequalities: levels, actors and interactions", funded by FNI at the Ministry of Educationand Science, an attempt will be made to answer the research question.