Abstract
What is more influential—technology or society? While this issue has been in constant dilemma for many researches, the situation in Israel is clear: Israel is a leading high-tech country and technology is leading society in all aspects. In terms of technology, Israel is a technologically advanced market economy. It is known as a “Start-up Nation”, which means that its economic growth is stupendous and leading in high-tech worldwide. On the other hand, Israel is among the most impoverished of the OECD member countries, with a high rate of poverty and a social and digital big gap between its rich and poor. The main issue that this research investigates is the social gap of a developed country and a leading start-up nation which falls behind many countries in major social and policy categories. As the research demonstrates, Israel is a prime example of the domination of technology over society. The country’s development is a product of the digital revolution which situates Israel as a developed country in terms of technology, however also has been negative for the socio-economic inequality, to what this research defines as the digital gap.
Highlights
Definition of technology and society is not easy when we consider all the aspects and characteristics of this complex issue (Kumar, Kumar, & Persaud, 1999)
On the other hand, according to OECD report, Israel is second only to the United States among developed nations in inequality (OECD, 2011). Another OECD report which examined income inequality and the gap between the richer and the poorer segments of society in member states, found that Israel is ranked in 1st place with the highest percentage of people living below the poverty line
The gaps are dangerous to the economy: the achievements of the Israeli education system have been lower than the OECD average, which is certainly a worrying situation for a country whose growth strategy is based on human capital (Flug, 2014)
Summary
Definition of technology and society is not easy when we consider all the aspects and characteristics of this complex issue (Kumar, Kumar, & Persaud, 1999). The digital gap means that Israel is leading global competition in high-tech and innovation (OECD, 2016), with the largest number of start-up companies globally, second only to the USA (Senor and Singer, 2009) It has a strong economy, there are income inequality, financial gaps and lack of social unity among the different segments of society, creating major social and digital gaps. On the other hand, according to OECD report, Israel is second only to the United States among developed nations in inequality (OECD, 2011) Another OECD report which examined income inequality and the gap between the richer and the poorer segments of society in member states, found that Israel is ranked in 1st place with the highest percentage of people living below the poverty line. The research examines the impact of technology on the development of the digital and social gap in Israel—claiming that technological development, which is the leading aspect of the Israeli economy, has caused inequality among the different groups of the Israeli society and created major social differences in the way the country is developing
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