Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
New Media & Society
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Web of Science (18)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Selwyn, N.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Reconsidering Political and Popular Understandings of the Digital Divide

Neil Selwyn

Cardiff University selwynnc{at}cardiff.ac.uk

This article presents a theoretical examination of the digital divide, tracing its origins in the centre–Left social inclusion policy agenda of the 1980s and 1990s to its current status of political ‘hot topic’. It then moves on to outline four conceptual limitations to conventional dichotomous notions of the digital divide and individuals’ ‘access’ to information and communications technology (ICT): what is meant by ICT; what is meant by ‘access’; the relationship between ‘access to ICT’ and ‘use of ICT’; and a lack of consideration of the consequences of engagement with ICT. The article outlines a more sophisticated, hierarchical model of the digital divide based around these conceptual ‘stages’ while recognizing the mediating role of economic, cultural and social forms of capital in shaping individuals’ engagements with ICT. It concludes by developing a set of research themes and questions for future examination of inequalities in individuals’ use of ICT.

Key Words: access • cultural capital • digital divide • ICT • inequalities • social capital

New Media & Society, Vol. 6, No. 3, 341-362 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/1461444804042519
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 New Media SocietyHome page
S. Soderstrom
Offline social ties and online use of computers: A study of disabled youth and their use of ICT advances
New Media Society, August 1, 2009; 11(5): 709 - 727.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Media Culture SocietyHome page
M. Nivala
Simple answers for complex problems: education and ICT in Finnish information society strategies
Media Culture Society, May 1, 2009; 31(3): 433 - 448.
[PDF]

Home page
 Television New MediaHome page
L. J. Kenix
Nonprofit Organizations' Perceptions and Uses of the Internet
Television New Media, September 1, 2008; 9(5): 407 - 428.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 New Media SocietyHome page
T. Newholm, K. Keeling, P. McGoldrick, L. Macaulay, and J. Doherty
The digital divide and the theory of optimal slack
New Media Society, April 1, 2008; 10(2): 295 - 319.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 New Media SocietyHome page
S. Livingstone and E. Helsper
Gradations in digital inclusion: children, young people and the digital divide
New Media Society, August 1, 2007; 9(4): 671 - 696.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 American Behavioral ScientistHome page
R. MacDougall
Identity, Electronic Ethos, and Blogs: A Technologic Analysis of Symbolic Exchange on the New News Medium
American Behavioral Scientist, December 1, 2005; 49(4): 575 - 599.
[Abstract] [PDF]