This book provides an in-depth comparative analysis of inequality and the stratification of the digital sphere.

Grounded in classical sociological theories of inequality, as well as empirical evidence, this book defines the digital divide as the unequal access and utility of internet communications technologies and explores how it has the potential to replicate existing social inequalities, as well as create new forms of stratification. "The Digital Divide" examines how various demographic and socio-economic factors including income, education, age and gender, as well as infrastructure,...

Although discussion of the digital divide is a relatively new phenomenon, social inequality is a deeply entrenched part of our current social world, and is now reproduced in the digital sphere. Such inequalities have been described in multiple traditions of social thought and theoretical approaches. To move forward to a greater understanding of the nuanced dynamics of digital inequality, we need the theoretical lenses to interpret the meaning of what has been observed as digital inequality.

This volume examines and explains the phenomenon of digital divides and...