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

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)'
type: article
unique-id: WOS:000885976800003
usage-count-last-180-days: '16'
usage-count-since-2013: '19'
web-of-science-categories: Environmental Studies
year: '2022'