Digital Divide in the Modern Megapolis: Political Aspects

A.L. Bardin

doi:10.17976/jpps/2021.06.06

Digital Divide in the Modern Megapolis:
Political Aspects

Bardin A.L.,

Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia, andreybardin@gmail.com

elibrary_id: 684500 |

DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2021.06.06

Rubric: Orbis Terrarum

For citation:

Bardin A.L. Digital Divide in the Modern Megapolis: Political Aspects. – Polis. Political Studies. 2021. No. 6. P. 73-88. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2021.06.06

Abstract

The article deals with the problems of new social and political divisions associated with the widespread use of information and communication technologies (ICT) by inhabitants of megacities and city administrations. The author considers different approaches to the conceptualization of “digital divides” and to the study of their socio-political consequences, analyzes the main dimensions and levels of digital divide in the context of current socio-political processes and development trends, including during the COVID-19 pandemic, and considers different approaches to overcome them in a modern megacity. Three main levels of digital divide in modern societies are identified and characterized: 1) the availability of the material basis for the use of digital technology (technical level); 2) the skills for its use by different people (social level); and 3) the real opportunities for full participation of the individual in the life of a modern “digital” society and democratic participation in political and social processes, including the realization of their civil rights and freedoms, in expanding social connections and relations (political level). It is shown that while these three “traditional” types of digital gaps – inequalities in access to ICT, in the level of digital skills and in the possibility of full participation in the political life of modern digital society – remain and grow in importance in the megacity context, their new aspects, such as access to big data sets (Big Data), the degree of dependence on automated decision-making systems (algorithms) using artificial intelligence technologies, and digital exclusion and separation on the relational level are becoming increasingly important. Some socio-political implications of the new digital divide and the associated political risks are identified. It is concluded that the measures taken to mitigate and reduce the digital divide in the modern metropolis have so far been mostly partial and palliative, with a focus on improving the material basis for the use of digital technologies rather than on overcoming the deeper sociopolitical causes and consequences of digital divisions and gaps. It is shown that policies to reduce the digital divide and digital inequality in modern megacities are particularly important because megacities are home to the most politically active populations.

Keywords

digital divide, digital inequality, political participation, social divisions, political divisions, smart city, innovation, development policy.

Full Text

References

Benjamin R. 2019. Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Cardullo P., Kitchin R. 2019. Smart Urbanism and Smart Citizenship: The Neoliberal Logic of ‘Citizen-Focused’ Smart Cities in Europe. – Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space. Vol 37. No. 5. P. 813-830. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0263774X18806508

Castells M. 1989. The Informational City: Information Technology, Economic Restructuring, and the Urban–Regional Process. Oxford: Blackwell.

DiMaggio P., Hargittai E., Celeste C., Shafer S. 2004. Digital Inequality: From Unequal Access To Differentiated Use. – Social Inequality. Ed. by K.M. Neckerman. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation. P. 355-400.

Gran A.B., Booth P., Bucher T. 2020. To Be or Not to Be Algorithm Aware: A Question of a New Digital Divide? – Information, Communication & Society. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2020.1736124

Hargittai E. 2002. Second-Level Digital Divide: Differences in People’s Online Skills. – First Monday. Vol. 7. No. 4. https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v7i4.942

Hargittai E., Micheli M. 2019. Internet Skills and Why They Matter. – Society and the Internet: How Networks of Information and Communication Are Changing Our Lives. Ed. by M. Graham, W.H. Dutton. Oxford University Press. P. 109-124.

Harrison C., Eckman B., Hamilton R., Hartswick P., Kalagnanam J., Paraszczak J., Williams P. 2010. Foundations for Smarter Cities. – IBM Journal of Research and Development. Vol. 54. No. 4. P. 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1147/JRD.2010.2048257

Katzenbach C., Ulbricht L. 2019. Algorithmic Governance. – Internet Policy Review. Vol. 8. No. 4. https://doi.org/10.14763/2019.4.1424

Klawitter E., Hargittai E. 2018. “It’s Like Learning a Whole Other Language”: The Role of Algorithmic Skills in the Curation of Creative Goods. – International Journal of Communication. No. 12. P. 3490-3510.

Lipset S.M., Rokkan S. 1967. Cleavage Structures, Party Systems and Voter Alignments: An Introduction. – Party Systems and Voter Alignments: Cross-national Perspectives. Ed. by S.M. Lipset, S. Rokkan. New York: Free Press. P. 1-64.

Mutsvairo B., Ragnedda M. 2019. Mapping the Digital Divide in Africa: a Mediated Analysis. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.

Norris P. 2001. Digital Divide: Civic Engagement, Information Poverty, and the Internet Worldwide. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Park S. 2017. Digital Capital. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Ragnedda M. 2018. Conceptualizing Digital Capital. – Telematics and Informatics. Vol. 35. No. 8. P. 2366-2375. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2018.10.006

Rokkan S. 1973. Cities, States, and Nations: A Dimensional Model for the Study of Contrasts in Development. – Building States and Nations: Methods and Data Resources. Ed. by S.N. Eisenstadt, S. Rokkan. Vol. 1. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications. P. 73-97.

Understanding the Digital Divide. 2001. OECD Digital Economy Papers. No. 49. Paris: OECD Publishing.

van Deursen A., Helsper E. 2015. The Third-Level Digital Divide: Who Benefits Most from Being Online? – Communication and Information Technologies Annual. P. 29-52. Bingley: Emerald.

van Deursen A., van Dijk J. 2019. The First-Level Digital Divide Shifts from Inequalities in Physical Access to Inequalities in Material Access. – New Media & Society. Vol. 21. No. 2. P. 354-375. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444818797082

van Dijk J. 2005. The Deepening Divide: Inequality in the Information Society. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

van Dijk J. 2020. The Digital Divide. Cambridge; Medford: Polity Press.

Bardin A.L., Stomin V.V. 2021. Artificial Intelligence in Urban Governance: Barriers and Prospects for Implementation. – Istoriya i sovremennost’. P. 44-63. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.30884/iis/2021.02.02

Bekova S.K., Terentev E.A., Maloshonok N.G. 2021. Educational Inequality and COVID-19 Pandemic: Relationship between the Family Socio-Economic Status and Student Experience of Remote Learning. – Educational Studies Moscow. No. 1. P. 74-92. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.17323/1814-9545-2021-1-74-92

Bykov I.A., Hall T.E. 2011. Digital Divide and the Internet-Users Political Preferences in Russia. – Polis. Political Studies. No. 5. P. 151-163. (In Russ.)

Glossarii po informatsionnomu obshchestvu [Glossary on the Information Society]. Ed. by Yu.E. Khokhlov. 2009. Moscow: Institute of the Information Society. (In Russ.)

Martynenko T.S., Dobrinskaya D.E. 2021. Social Inequality in the Age of Algorithms: From Digital to Algorithmic Divide. – Monitoring of Public Opinion: Economic and Social Changes Journal. No. 1. P. 171-192. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.14515/monitoring.2021.1.1807

Ot iskusstvennogo intellekta k iskusstvennoi sotsial’nosti: novye issledovatel’skie problemy sovremennoi sotsial’noi analitiki [Artificial Intelligence on the Way to Artificial Sociality: New Research Agenda for Social Analytics]. 2020. Ed. by A.V. Rezaev. Moscow: VCIOM. (In Russ.)

Plotichkina N.V. 2020. Digital Inclusion: Theoretical Reflection and Public Policy. – Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Filosofiya. Sotsiologiya. Politologiya. No. 58. P. 216-226. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.17223/1998863Х/58/20

Plotichkina N.V., Morozova E.V., Miroshnichenko I.V. 2020. Digital Technologies: Policy for Improving Accessibility and Usage Skills Development in Europe and Russia. – Mirovaya ekonomika i mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya. Vol. 64. No. 4. P. 70-83. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.20542/0131-2227-2020-64-4-70-83

Rezaev A.V., Tregubova N.D. 2021. Artificial Intelligence and Artificial Sociality: New Phenomena and Challenges for the Social Sciences. – Monitoring of Public Opinion: Economic and Social Changes. No. 1. P. 4-19. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.14515/monitoring.2021.1.1905

Semenenko I.S., Lapkin V.V., Pantin V.I. 2021. Cleavages and Political Divides in a Theoretical Perspective: Criteria for Assessment and Classification. – Polis. Political Studies. No. 5. P. 56-77. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2021.05.05

Smorgunov L.V., Ignat'eva O.A., Bykov I.A., Kondratenko K.S., Baryshkin A.G. 2021. Public Communication Between Citizens and Public Authorities: Forming of Judgments on Digital Platforms. – Bulletin of Perm University. Political Science. Vol. 15. No. 2. P. 156-172. https://doi.org/10.17072/2218-1067-2021-2-156-172

Vartanova E.L., Gladkova A.A. 2020. Digital Capital within the Context of the Intangible Capitals Concept. – Mediaskop. No. 1. P. 8. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.30547/mediascope.1.2020.8

Vartanova E.L., Gladkova A.A. 2021. Digital Divide, Digital Capital, Digital Inclusion: Dynamics of Theoretical Approaches and Political Decisions. – Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seriya 10. Zhurnalistika. No. 1. P. 3-29. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.30547/vestnik.journ.1.2021.329

Volchenko O.V. 2016. Dynamics of Digital Inequality in Russia. – Monitoring of Public Opinion: Economic and Social Changes Journal. No. 5. P. 163-182. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.14515/monitoring.2016.5.10

Volodenkov S.V. 2019. Influence of Internet Communication Technologies on Contemporary Social and Political Processes: Scenarios, Challenges, and Actors. – Monitoring of Public Opinion: Economic and Social Changes Journal. No. 5. P. 341-364. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.14515/monitoring.2019.5.16

Content No. 6, 2021