wow-inequalities/02-data/intermediate/wos_sample/ff1b8c2668bcbefc8fd4be847c663c8f-garcia-faroldi-livi/info.yaml

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2023-09-28 14:46:10 +00:00
abstract: 'Internet access is nowadays widespread in Spanish society. Nevertheless,
a digital divide still exists. The term ``digital divide{''''} is defined
by the OECD (2001:5) as ``the gap between individuals, household,
businesses and geographic areas at different socio-economic levels with
regard both to their opportunities to access information and
communication technologies (ICTs) and to their use of the Internet for a
wide variety of activities{''''}. In this context, Norris (2001) proposed
three dimensions of the digital divide: (1) global divide, the
divergence of Internet access between countries; (2) social divide, the
usability gap between different groups as a result of social
stratification; and (3) democratic divide, the gap between those who use
and do not use digital resources for political mobilization and
participation in public life. Other authors differentiate between three
divides: in access, in skills and in outcomes (Wei et al. 2011). Digital
divide research began with the study of the access to Internet and its
use (the so-called first divide), although soon after the interest moved
to the uses that different social groups made of Internet. Di Maggio et
al. (2004) distinguished capital-enhancing activities (activities that
improve social status) from social and recreational activities. These
different uses of internet give rise to ``digital inequalities{''''}.
In this paper, three digital divides are considered: the first is
related to the access, the second to using or not Internet and the third
to three capital-enhancing activities. We use representative samples
(2017 and 2019) from the National Institute of Statistics (INE in
Spanish) and the Center for Sociological Research (CIS in Spanish). The
size of the sample is 17,337 (INE 2017), 17,196 (INE 2019) and 2,482
(CIS 2017).
We first analyse the access gap and reasons why households are not
connected. Second, we study the evolution of users of Internet
(2006-2019). Third, we create different indexes for measuring three
capital-enhancing activities: and index of educational purposes, an
index of professional purposes, and two indexes for measuring civic and
political participation.
The index of educational purposes includes four items: 1) make an online
course, 2) use Internet content for learning purpose, 3) communicate
with students and teachers through websites; and 4) other e-learning
activities. The index of professional purposes includes two items: 1)
search or apply for a job through Internet; and 2) participate in
professional networks. Lastly, in order to measure political and civic
participation two indexes are proposed. First, the index includes three
items from the INE dataset: 1) reading news online; express opinions
about social, civic and political topics; and 3) participate in online
enquiry or vote about civic and political topics. Second, the index
includes six items from the CIS dataset: 1) contact with a politician or
political party; 2) communication with an association or organization;
3) subscribe to a list about current affairs; 4) write comments about
social and political topics; 5) donation to association/ organization;
and 6) sign a petition or join a campaign.
The analytical strategy first includes a descriptive analysis of the
dependent variables, comparing how different social categories use
Internet and participate online. Second, we carry out regression
analyses to discover which of the different independent variables (level
of education, age, sex, size of habitat, employment status and income)
better predict the use of internet for capital-enhancing activities and
online political and civic participation.
Regarding access, although it is true that Internet access has become
widespread, in 2019 more than 10\% of households do not have access to
the Internet at home. The analysis of why household are not connected
shows that motivational access (attitudes towards Internet) is the most
frequent explanation for this trend. In 2019, among those habitants
living in households without Internet, more than 75\% explains that they
don''t need Internet and more than 50\% considers they don''t have enough
knowledge to use it. This motivational access is indeed stratified:
these reasons are more frequent in rural areas and in poorer families.
Other motives also mentioned, although to a lesser extent (around one in
four), are related to economic difficulties (costs of equipment and
connection). Finally, difficulties of access to broadband internet
connections, especially in rural areas, also are mentioned.
Regarding use, Internet is widespread among young and more educated
population (99\% of people aged 16 to 24 and with tertiary education in
2019) but it is remarkable the expansion among old people (almost
two-thirds of those aged 65 to 74 have accessed Internet in the last
three months). Similar trends of diffusion of the Internet use could be
observed in all levels of education and size of habitat. The only group
where non-Internet outnumbers Internet users in 2019 are people who have
not finished primary education. Finally, it is remarkable how the gender
gap has disappeared in 2019.
Regarding capital-enhancing activities in Internet, the data confirm the
so-called ``Matthew effect{''''} (Merton, 1968), or ``rich get richer
effect{''''}, that is, the most beneficial Internet uses in order to
improve social status are practiced by people who already occupy a
well-off position in the offline world. This result is in line with
previous studies (Di Maggio et al. 2004, Hargittai and Hinnats 2008).
This is especially the case when Internet is used for educational
purposes or for creating contacts in professional networks. Regarding
the use of Internet for educational purposes, regressions show that this
activity is more widespread among younger, more educated people and
students. Regarding professional purposes, as expected, the unemployed
is the group who uses more often the web when they search for a job, but
also the most educated and youngest people use the Internet most
frequently to improve their job position. Nevertheless, regressions show
a negative association between family income and the use of Internet for
professional purposes. Further research is needed to explain which
channels use the better off people to improve their professional status.
Lastly, the results on online civic and political participation
corroborate that the groups with the greatest involvement coincide with
those with higher traditional participation. Regressions show that sex,
level of education, age and income are the most important predictors of
political participation: men, the more educated, younger and the better
off participate more online than women, the less educated, older and the
economic disadvantage population. Nonetheless it can also be observed
that online participation gives space to new activism, at least to some
extent. Some groups less involved in the conventional channels of
political participation take a more active role here, such as students
and people aged 16 to 24.
Our findings confirm the hypothesis that those who are taking more
advantage of the digital world are the same people who are better
situated in the offline world. In our analysis, two variables stand out
above all as the most relevant: educational level and age. Other
variables are relevant, although to a lesser extent: employment status,
income, size of habitat and gender. These findings confirm previous
research carried out in Spain focused on the distinction between
Internet users or not (Robles and Molina 2007, Robles and Torres-Albero
2012). The results also corroborate recent research on the second gap in
Spain, although this second gap was previously measured focusing on
other activities such as e-shopping (Torres Albero 2017).
Further research is needed to study how the material access impact in
Spanish digital divide. That is, we need to focus on aspects as
differences in device-related opportunities, device and peripheral
diversity and maintenance expenses of devices and peripherals (van
Deursen and van Dijk 2019). It is also needed to study other
capital-enhancing activities and to compare if those groups more
involved these types of activities are at the same time more involved in
recreational activities.
This work shows that, even though the Internet is widespread, the uses
that could be more beneficial for the social position of the users are
more frequent among people who already occupy a good social position in
the offline world. Internet itself does not causes social exclusion, but
digital inequalities reinforce the inequalities of the offline world if
authorities do not act. These findings have clear political
implications. First, public authorities should concentrate on those
social groups with more negative attitudes towards Internet because the
motivational access is the first step of the appropriation process (van
Deursen and van Dijk 2019). Second, an effort should be made to improve
material access in disadvantaged areas and groups. Third, digital
alphabetization (increasing digital skills) is needed in order to
decrease the ``Matthew effect{''''}, so disadvantaged groups could use
Internet to improve their social status.'
affiliation: 'Garcia-Faroldi, L (Corresponding Author), Univ Malaga, Malaga, Spain.
Garcia-Faroldi, Livia, Univ Malaga, Malaga, Spain.'
author: Garcia-Faroldi, Livia
author_list:
- family: Garcia-Faroldi
given: Livia
da: '2023-09-28'
files: []
issn: 0213-7585
journal: REVISTA DE ESTUDIOS REGIONALES
keywords: 'Digital divide; E-learning; Civic participation; Political
participation; Professional networks'
keywords-plus: POLITICAL-PARTICIPATION; DIVIDE; ACCESS; SKILLS
language: Spanish
month: MAY-AUG
number: '124'
number-of-cited-references: '38'
orcid-numbers: García-Faroldi, Livia/0000-0001-7816-7562
pages: 73-100
papis_id: c7f3162ac0742e8e52f7c4b3c6c30d90
ref: Garciafaroldi2022digitalinequality
researcherid-numbers: García-Faroldi, Livia/AAC-6753-2022
times-cited: '0'
title: 'Digital inequality in Spain: The differentiated adoption of beneficial uses
of Internet (2017-2019)'
2023-10-01 08:15:07 +00:00
type: article
2023-09-28 14:46:10 +00:00
unique-id: WOS:000885976800003
usage-count-last-180-days: '16'
usage-count-since-2013: '19'
web-of-science-categories: Environmental Studies
year: '2022'