Abstract
(From the chapter) Much of the debate about the digital divide has
centered on the question of who has access to computers and the Internet.
A series of studies by the National Telecommunications and Information
Administration (NTIA, 1995, 1999, 2000, 2002) revealed that those
in low-income, low-education, minority-racial, and rural location
groups have unequal access to the new technologies. The most recent
NTIA (2002) report indicated that the gaps in access are narrowing.
However, this chapter argues that a number of fundamental aspects
of the digital divide persist, above and beyond access issues. It
examines continuing gaps that underlie the digital divide from a
case study of Austin, Texas. A highly wired city, Austin reveals
the social and cultural barriers that remain in place when most conventional
remedies, such as public access centers, Internet-connected schools
and libraries, and computer training programs, become fairly widely
available. This chapter seeks to understand the social construction
of information technology in the lives of working-class and poor
Hispanics and African Americans in East Austin. We examine the economic
and social causes for why many families in disadvantaged communities
do not have, do not use, or do not seek access to new technologies.
Among other factors, these causes include class, ethnicity, age,
geographic location, and gender-role constraints. The analysis focuses
on the sources of cultural capital these families employ as they
decide whether and how to make use of technology in their lives.
These forms of cultural capital contribute to "technodispositions"
about information and communication technologies (ICTs). A central
question throughout the research is whether lower class, minority
youths and their parents are forming a more durable and consistent
class pattern (or habitus) toward ICTs than commonly assumed. Interviews
with a group of twelve teenagers, their parents, and, in some cases
their siblings, were structured to answer this question and constituted
the main elements in gathering the data. (PsycINFO Database Record
(c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved)
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