Digitalization in China: who’s left behind?

ABSTRACT

In an age of digitalization, who still refuses to use digital technology? Drawing on nationally-representative Chinese General Social Survey data, this article finds that about half of Chinese households do not actively use the Internet or e-payment systems, despite their ubiquity. This article estimates the effects of socioeconomic resources on these technologies’ (non-)use across urban, resident but previously urban, resident but previously rural, and rural hukou household registrations in China. Educational attainment is associated with higher odds of use among rural hukou, but the size of this effect is nearly double compared to urban hukou. Additionally, being female increases the odds of use among urban and resident but previously urban hukou, and lowers the odds of use in rural hukou, but which are attenuated by the mediating effects of education. The results give credence to education as a direct and indirect mechanism for digital skills development, especially for rural households. Individuals proximal to rural living conditions have fewer opportunities to learn about digital technology, resulting in greater dependency on education as a rare source of skills training. Simultaneously, education indirectly creates opportunities for women to learn digital skills by improving chances for higher-status job participation that require information management skills, especially in rural regions where traditional cultural norms constrain opportunities for upward mobility. Ultimately, digital technology non-use is traced not to lack of interest, but to lack of skills development opportunities among the socioeconomically disadvantaged.

KEYWORDS:

• China
• digital technology use
• inequality
• rural-urban divide

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 I say ‘scarcer,’ and not completely ‘non-existent,’because the indirect effects of being female on digital technology use through education still appear to be negative and significant.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by a Departmental Start-up and Applied Social Sciences Research from the Department of Applied Social Sciences at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Notes on contributors

Anson Au

Anson Au is Assistant Professor of Sociology in the Department of Applied Social Sciences at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. An economic sociologist and social network scholar, he has published 50 articles in leading journals such as Information, Communication, & Society, Current Sociology, Sociological Review, Critical Asian Studies, Symbolic Interaction, among others.