Utilising a Critical Realist Lens to Conceptualise Digital Inequality: The Experiences of Less Well-Off Internet Users

Abstract

This study aims to contribute to existing understandings of the relationships between social inequality and Internet use through 30 in-depth interviews with people in Britain who have digital access, are digitally competent, and use the Internet for a broad range of purposes, yet come from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Using a critical realist lens, it examines the everyday experiences and implications of using the Internet for this group. The paper explores individuals uses of the Internet, the ways people are able to exert agency using the affordances of the Internet and the structural conditions which constrain or enable what is possible for participants to achieve. The analysis provides a way to understand the complex mechanisms of agency and structure that help to explain the varied outcomes of Internet use for different individuals; and promotes a move beyond a focus on access and skills in digital inclusion policies.