Beyond the digital divide : contextualizing the information society / Petr Lupač (Charles University, Czech Republic).

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lupač, Petr, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Information society.

Internet.

Equality.

Marginality, Social.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (226 pages) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Bingley, England : Emerald Publishing, 2018.

Summary:

This book critically reviews existing digital divide research and challenges its core thesis, which posits unequal Internet access as a newly formed source of social disadvantage. The author begins by introducing the building blocks of the information society theory. The book goes on to present a systematic overview of digital divide research - its development, arguments attesting to the social gravity of the digital divide, and current findings on the uneven diffusion and use of the Internet. It evaluates the validity of the theories and concepts associated with digital divide research. The author offers an overview and re-examination of six presumptions and biases found in the prevailing approach to the digital divide. Given that Internet use has, in certain contexts, become an absolute necessity, an alternative approach is proposed, recognizing the indispensability of Internet use as context dependent. The book concludes with a consideration of the implications that this new perspective has for the information society theory and policies as well as for the role of social science in the informatization process.

Contents:

Intro

Beyond the digital divide : contextualizing the information society

Acknowledgements

Table of contents

List of figures

List of tables

Chapter 1. Introduction

Chapter 2. Searching for the core of the information society theory : developments, versions, arguments

2.1. Milestones in the development of the information society theory

2.2. Arguments and versions

Chapter 3. Manuel Castells : towards the digital divide of the information age

3.1. Earlier Castells : epistemological sources and urban sociology

3.2. Later Castells and his theory of society

3.3. Network society

3.3.1. The formation of a new economy and globalization

3.3.2. Network enterprise

3.3.3. The global geometry of the new economy : segmentation and exclusion

3.4. In the Internet galaxy

3.4.1. The transformation of mass communication

3.4.2. The transformation of sociability

3.4.3. The transformation of resistance

3.4.4. A Ppath to change : bridging the digital divide

3.5 Addendum : a blunt critique of Castells' late theory of society

Chapter 4. Digital divide research

4.1. Early eesearch : the widening divide

4.2. Turn of the millennium : closing the digital divide?

4.2.1. The 'different rates of Internet adoption' Argument

4.2.2. The 'non-exceptionality of ICT' argument

4.2.3. The 'organically closing digital divide' argument

4.3. ... And yet it widens!

4.3.1. National level : bridging the divide is far on the horizon

4.3.2. The global digital divide

4.4. Applying the diffusion of innovations theory : a tenuous relationship

4.4.1. The disconnect between diffusion of innovations research and digital divide research

4.4.2. Critique of the diffusion of innovations theory : a false target

4.4.3. The perpetual resurgence of the digital divide

4.4.4. Adaptation of the S-curve : stratification and normalization model

4.5. The deepening divide : the final argument

4.5.1. Van Dijk's digital divide model

4.5.3. Motivation and barriers to access

4.5.4. Digital skills

4.5.5. Intermezzo : the myth of the digital generation

4.5.5. Gaps in Internet usage

Chapter 5. Tenuous assumptions in Digital Divide Research

5.1. The reduction of information and communication (technologies) to that of the Internet

5.2. The assumption of universal impact : proportional, positive and constant outcomes

5.3. The assumption of the universal necessity of Internet use

5.4. Individual-blame bias : the Assumption of isolated users

5.5. Pro-innovation bias and the presupposed inevitability of further informatization

5.6. The presupposed feasibility of closing the digital divide

Chapter 6. Understanding indispensability : contexts, networks and discourses

6.1. Contexts and cetworks

6.2. Contextualizing the (research on the) digital divide

Chapter 7. Conclusion : towards a new theory of information society

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references.

Print version record

ISBN:

9781787565470

1787565475

9781787565494

1787565491