Digitalization and Social Inequality

Introduction

Over the years, technological improvements have tremendously impacted how individuals interact with each other. Developing efficient technological equipment like smartphones, tabs, and laptops has led to the birth of a modern, digitalized society. Most people depend on the internet to conduct their daily activities. Technology advancements have allowed individuals to work and study from home through various online platforms. However, despite the positive changes it has brought about, like any other revolution, technological advancement has created problems in society (Zillien & Hargittai, 2009). In creating a digital world, society has been experiencing a social distinction between the high and low living classes. So how does digitalizing society relate to social inequality?

Research question

The existence of social classes is an acknowledged phenomenon. Sociology research affirms that wealth, occupation, level of education, and income have often determined how individuals relate with each other besides how they conduct their activities. Digitalization has brought about social inequality in various ways in the technological field. One of the ways technology has divided society is in terms of how individuals use the internet. Depending on a person’s agenda, digitalization has designed society so that different persons have different uses for digital technologies and tools. In this regard, this paper’s main question of the research is; How does socioeconomic status influence how an individual uses digital technologies?

Research aim

Digitalization has created social inequalities by differentiating individuals based on their accessibility to digital technology, use, and results after using these digital resources (Micheli et al., 2018). The study investigates how an individual’s socioeconomic status influences their usage of digital technological resources. It aims at understanding how an individual’s social class affects them when interacting with digital technologies. Generally, the study aims at developing a relationship that connects an individual’s socioeconomic status and how it influences their usage of digital technologies. With this information, digital developers can develop strategic plans that will ensure the effective use of digital technologies by all despite the individuals’ socioeconomic status. Such plans will also help in reducing social inequality that is being caused by digitalization.

Research objectives

Specific objectives have been set to help in guiding the course of the research study. These include;

• Understanding how socioeconomic status influences the use of digital technology- at the end of the study, one should state whether social class status influences how an individual uses the internet and other digital technologies. Secondly, one should be in a position to provide an elaborate explanation that shows how socioeconomic status impacts internet usage. Evidence-supported arguments also show how people from different social classes use digital technologies.
• Understand the relationship between digitalization and social inequality- after establishing how socioeconomic differences influence the use of digital technologies, the information can be used to create a link between digitalization and social inequality. At the end of the study, one should provide a detailed explanation that shows the relationship between digitalization and social inequality. An individual should be able to link socioeconomic differences with digitalization and how they impact social inequality.

Case analysis

Society is divided into different social classes depending on the income capacity of an individual. With this understanding, people indeed have different levels of ease in accessing digital technologies and have the appropriate skills required to use them. People from the higher social class have access to fast internet and the most modern digital tools (desktops, laptops, phones). They also have more appropriate skills required to operate digital technologies effectively. The result is that they spend more time interacting with these digital technologies, thus improving their skills (Matzat & Sadowski, 2012) and, at the same time conducting educational research that can help improve their socioeconomic status. They have minimal difficulties accessing these digital technologies, thus prompting their higher rate of effectively using them.

On the other hand, individuals from the lower social class face a completely different scenario when interacting with digital technologies. For instance, middle and low-income individuals often experience challenges accessing fast internet and efficient digital technological tools (Cite). Additionally, due to their limited interaction with these digital technologies, they showcase , thus hindering their ability to use digital technologies effectively. Secondly, due to the slow internet and using outdated equipment, these individuals tend to use digital technologies for entertainment purposes, such as browsing social media platforms. Their use of digital technologies is mostly limited to entertainment purposes.

From the above two examples of how different individuals use digital technologies, it is clear that socioeconomic status influences how an individual uses the internet and digital technologies. With that information, it is clear that individuals from the lower social class have limited access to digital technologies and thus will be disadvantaged in a digitalized society. Digitalization thus creates a gap between the two social classes, leaving one at a disadvantage. The gap is a social inequality (the lack of equal opportunities to access the advantages of belonging to society) as people from the higher social class will have an advantage in adapting to a digitalized environment (Lutz, 2019). When applying for a job, an employer will tend to choose an individual from the higher social class as they have more skill sets than their lower social class counterpart. Digitalization is thus a source of social inequality as it does not provide equal opportunities to all citizens.

Conclusion

From the above analysis, socioeconomic status impacts an individual’s digital technology usage. The impact results in an in-balance, thus creating social inequality in a digitalized environment (Parviainen et al., 2017). Despite its ability to promote economic growth, and production efficiency, digitalization is a major cause of social inequality. We, however, need it and should come up with ways to implement digitalization effectively and equally. Thus, how can we promote digitalization without causing social inequality?

References

Lutz, C. (2019). Digital inequalities in the age of artificial intelligence and big data. Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies, 1(2), 141-148.

Matzat, U., & Sadowski, B. (2012). Does the “do-it-yourself approach” reduce digital inequality? Evidence of self-learning of digital skills. The Information Society, 28(1), 1-12.

Micheli, M., Lutz, C., & Büchi, M. (2018). Digital footprints: an emerging dimension of digital inequality. Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society.

Parviainen, P., Tihinen, M., Kääriäinen, J., & Teppola, S. (2017). Tackling the digitalization challenge: how to benefit from digitalization in practice. International journal of information systems and project management, 5(1), 63-77.

Zillien, N., & Hargittai, E. (2009). Digital distinction: Status‐specific types of internet usage. Social Science Quarterly, 90(2), 274-291.