ETHNIC DIFFERENCES IN INTERNET ACCESS

Abstract

Internet adoption has expanded rapidly in recent years and its use is been associated with the formation of social networks, the accumulation of social capital and a wage premium. Thus, lack of Internet access might reflect and even enlarge existing social inequalities. Considering the need for a better understanding of Internet inaccessibility, we investigated differences in access in relation to ethnicity. Presumably, in deeply divided societies, with a partial but significant overlap between ethnicity and the occupational structure, disadvantaged minorities lack digital access as they are concentrated in occupations that are not exposed to computers and the Internet. The hypotheses were tested with a representative sample of the Israeli population, a society deeply divided according to ethnic lines. Israeli Arabs proved less likely to have access to the Internet because they are concentrated in blue-collar occupations that do not involve work with computers and the Internet. Lack of exposure foments the development of negative attitudes to technology, which presumably deter them from adopting the Internet.

Keywords:

• communication studies
• digital divide
• employment

Notes

Both authors have contributed equally to the research and the writing of this manuscript. Direct all correspondence to Gustavo S. Mesch, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Haifa, Har Hacarmel 31905. Email: [email protected]. This study was conducted with the support of a grant from the Israel Scientific Foundation (1014/08) to both authors.

The survey was conducted by the Statistics Unit of the University of Haifa, Israel. The unit has much experience in conducting CATI surveys with representative samples of the population of Israel. Main parameters of the population segments were compared with data supplied by the Social Survey run by the Israeli Central Buearu of Statistics and found similar parametric distribution.

At a panel of the International Communication Association Conference entitled ‘Is the Digital Divide Closing or Not?’ held in Dresden 19–22 June 2006, van Dijk presented the stratification viewpoint and James Katz the normalization hypotheses.