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Beyond the 'digital divide': internet diffusion and inequality in Australia
Citation
Mallick, S and Tranter, BK, Beyond the 'digital divide': internet diffusion and inequality in Australia, Journal of Sociology, 42, (1) pp. 43-59. ISSN 1440-7833 (2006) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright © 2006 by Australian Sociological Association.
DOI: doi:10.1177/1440783306061352
Abstract
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.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
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Keywords: | digital divide • Internet • social class • social inequality |
Research Division: | Human Society |
Research Group: | Sociology |
Research Field: | Sociology not elsewhere classified |
Objective Division: | Law, Politics and Community Services |
Objective Group: | Community services |
Objective Field: | Social class and inequalities |
UTAS Author: | Mallick, S (Dr Suzanne Mallick) |
UTAS Author: | Tranter, BK (Professor Bruce Tranter) |
ID Code: | 39282 |
Year Published: | 2006 |
Web of Science® Times Cited: | 89 |
Deposited By: | Sociology and Social Work |
Deposited On: | 2006-08-01 |
Last Modified: | 2012-03-05 |
Downloads: | 19 View Download Statistics |
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