The Diffusion of the Internet and Rural Development

Abstract

This study explores the applicability of the diffusion of innovations theory to internet development in rural China by examining internet diffusion and usage patterns in two rural areas of China's Gansu Province. Its ethnographic research design allowed the researchers to interact with the rural people under study and obtain first-hand data on their adoption and usage of the internet. The results show that in the context of rural China, where the local economy and infrastructure can hardly sustain such an advanced technology as the internet, the diffusion and usage of the internet are determined not much by the will of individuals, but by the change agency. As the weakest social class in terms of their share and control of social resources, Chinese farmers as individuals do not play an important role in the adoption of the internet, which tends to be the result of organizational initiatives.