The State of Digital Inequalities: Interplay Between Social and Digital Exclusion

Abstract

What are the consequences of the divergent uses of digital technology? This chapter examines how different levels and forms of access and use can either overcome or reinforce existing social inequalities. In an age of hyperconnectivity, there is an emerging digital underclass that cannot be fully explained by existing socioeconomic factors. The new forms of inequality created by digital networks are permeating all areas and groups of the population. The inability to engage with digital technology increasingly serves as a disadvantage in people’s work, personal, and social lives. Using two axes of the degree of digital and social exclusion, this chapter outlines how digital exclusion might overcome, maintain, or reinforce social exclusion. An individual’s existing socioeconomic status largely determines their digital capital, which explains why and how digital exclusion is a consequence of social exclusion. However, there are other components of digital capital that enable individuals to overcome social disadvantages.