Beyond the 'digital divide

Internet diffusion and inequality in Australia

Bibliographic Data

ID2398840
AuthorsSuzanne Willi, Suzanne Willis, B Tranter (0000-0002-0649-6065, University of Tasmania)
Year2006
Volume42
Issue1
Pages43-59
Publication date2006-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1440-7833 • E-ISSN: 1741-2978
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1440783306061352
OpenAlexW2138759835
LanguageEN
Citations received53
References cited16

The increasing potential of the Internet to widen access to information and enhance communication capacity has brought opposing arguments about the social consequences of Internet use. Advocates of the 'digital divide' thesis argue that the Internet advantages privileged groups while further marginalizing disadvantaged social categories. Critics of the thesis see the expansion of the Internet as enabling and egalitarian, promoting social inclusion and facilitating democratic participation. In order to assess which view is more plausible, we examine the social barriers to Internet use in Australia over a five-year period, using multivariate analyses of national survey data. The notion of a 'digital divide' is too simplistic to capture the complexity of social barriers to Internet use. Although the Internet has become more accessible to all social categories, and further technological diffusion should widen this accessibility, household income, age, education and occupational class location remain as key dimensions of differential Internet use

Digital divide · Disadvantaged · Economic growth · Economics · Internet access · Internet privacy · Internet research · Political science · Public relations · Social class · Social science · Sociology · Sociology of the Internet · The Internet · World Wide Web · Computer Science · ICT Impact and Policies · Social Media and Politics · Youth Education and Societal Dynamics

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