Digital Exclusion: be on the wrong side of the digital divide

Authors

  • Massimo Ragnedda University of NorthUmbria, England.
  • Maria Laura Ruiu University of NorthUmbria, England.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.1982-677X.rum.2016.124298

Keywords:

digital divide, digital inclusion, digital exclusion, digital inequalities

Abstract

The development of the information society has highlighted the existence of obstacles preventing certain social groups from accessing and properly using technologies, leading to new forms of exclusion from the job market, governmental institutions, leisure and academic activities. However, reducing the gap between those who connect and those do not by offering cheaper and faster physical access does not automatically translate into closing the gap in terms of digital inequalities. The technological determinist position, which sees access to technology as being able to solve social problems, including problems of social inequality, democracy, freedom, social relationships and sense of community, is misleading. In fact, several dimensions and patterns can generate and reinforce inequalities, further increasing the distances between citizens/users. The term “digital divide”, often used in binary term, is confusing, because it suggests a one-dimensional gap, mainly based on the economic factor (possession of technologies), while there are gaps in multiple dimensions that go beyond the simple access to or possession of resources. These dimensions create digital inequalities that, if not mirrored, produce and reinforce social inequalities. The concepts of social and digital stratification are intimately intertwined.

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Author Biographies

  • Massimo Ragnedda, University of NorthUmbria, England.
    Ph.D. in Theory of Communication and Intercultural Studies at the University of Sassari. In the academic year 2003/2004 he was Visiting Researcher at the Institute of Communication Studies of Leeds University (UK), in the academic year 2006/2007 he was an affiliated visitor at the Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge (UK) and he was Academic Visiting at the Oxford Internet Institute (University of Oxford). Currently he teaches Mass Communications at Northumbria University (UK). 
  • Maria Laura Ruiu, University of NorthUmbria, England.
    Postdoctoral researcher at the Desertification Research Centre (NRD), University of Sassari. Her research interests include urban and environmental sociology, climate change adaptation strategies and water governance, agricultural impacts on social assets, housing systems (cohousing and social housing), social movements, and dissemination-related issues. She is author of several publications that have appeared in peer reviewed journals. With regard to environmental and climate change issues, she is author and co-author of publications about social and economic benefits of local production of beef in Sardinia, “win win” adaptation strategies in the context of water governance and food social movements. She collaborates with agronomists, climatologists, economists by adopting a multi-perspective approach.

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Published

2016-12-17

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 20 (2016)

Section

Dossier

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How to Cite

Digital Exclusion: be on the wrong side of the digital divide. RuMoRes, [S. l.], v. 10, n. 20, p. 90–113, 2016. DOI: 10.11606/issn.1982-677X.rum.2016.124298. Disponível em: https://www.periodicos.usp.br/Rumores/article/view/124298.. Acesso em: 17 may. 2024.