Digital inequality and digital benefits: philosophical and methodological analysis

The paper analyzes the problem of digital inequality in the context of modern society. It shows that inequality in the digital benefits and access thereto distribution is one of the key aspects in the digital inequality. Socio-philosophical study of social inequality started in antiquity with the works by Plato and Aristotle. Plato proposed to reject private property to eliminate inequality, while Aristotle considered the poor as the “enemies” of the state. Ideas of N. Machiavelli, T. Hobbes and other thinkers also contributed to studying social inequality. The paper notes that today special attention is paid to digital inequality being an important component of the social inequality. Digital inequality includes unequal access to digital benefits, skills and opportunities. It is also associated with digital intellectual property and reflects the amount and profitability of the peoples’ digital assets. Digital environment plays an important role in the digital inequality and determines the activity and benefits of contacting in the digital space. Understanding digital environment as the digital devices’ communication environment helps to better understand human involvement in the digital technologies. The paper concludes that it is necessary to consider all three criteria, i.e. access to digital benefits, digital intellectual property and digital environment, in a complete analysis of the digital inequality. Comprehensive consideration of these criteria makes it possible to deeper understand the scale of the digital inequality problems, which could contribute to developing the appropriate measures either to overcome them or to reduce the number of negative consequences.

EDN UVMGRM

References
[1] Saint-Simon H. Catéchisme des industriels. 1823 [In Russ.: Sen-Simon A. Katekhizm of promyshlennikov, ili sistema pozitivnoy politiki. Moscow, Librokom Publ., 2010, 173 p.].
[2] Sorokin P. Sotsialnaya mobilnost [Social mobility]. Moscow, Academia Publ., LVS, 2005, XX, 588 p.
[3] Dobrinskaya D.E., Martynenko T.S. Vozmozhno li tsifrovoe ravenstvo? (o knige Ya. van Deyka “Tsifrovoy razryv”) [Is digital equality possible? (on the book “The Digital Divide” by J. van Dijk)]. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya — Sociological Research, 2020, no. 10, pp. 158–164.
[4] Imran A. Why addressing digital inequality should be a priority. The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, 2023, vol. 89, pp. 1–12.
[5] Orekhov A.M., Chubarov N.A. Tsifrovoe neravenstvo i tsifrovaya spravedlivost: sotsialno-filosofskie aspekty problemy [Digital inequality and digital justice: social philosophical aspects of the problem]. Vestnik RUDN. Ser. Filosofiya — RUDN Journal of Philosophy, 2024, no. 1, pp. 260–272.
[6] Pronchev G.B. Stanovlenie elektronno-tsifrovoy tsivilizatsii: klyuchevye ponyatiya. Chast 2 [Formation of digimatic civilization: key concepts. Part 2]. Teoriya i praktika obshchestvennogo razvitiya —- Theory and Practice of Social Development, 2022, no. 7, pp. 47–56.
[7] Orekhov A.M. Intellektualnaya sobstvennost: opyt sotsialno-filosofskogo i sotsialno-teoreticheskogo issledovaniya [Intellectual property: experience in socio-philosophical and socio-theoretical research]. Moscow, Editorial URSS Publ., 2009, 224 p.
[8] Khusyainov T.M. Zaputyvaya “tsifrovye sledy” [Confusing “digital footprints”]. Tsifrovoy uchenyi: laboratoriya filosofa — The Digital Scholar: Philosopher’s Lab, 2021, no. 1, pp. 45–50.
[9] Smirnova A.S. O problemakh tsifrovogo neravenstvo [About the problems of digital inequality during the pandemic]. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya — Sociological Studies, 2023, no. 1, pp. 157, 158.
[10] Xiao J. Integrating digital literacies and scientific communication in a multimedia anatomy group assignment to advance contextual learning. Anatomical Sciences Education, 2024, vol. 17, pp. 55–65.
[11] Aseeva I.A. Tsifrovoe blagopoluchie obshchestva: mezhdistsiplinarnyi podkhod [Digital well-being of society: interdisciplinary approach]. Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Filosofiya. Sotsiologiya. Politologiya — Tomsk State University Journal of Philosophy, Sociology and Political Science, 2023, no. 71, pp. 138–148.
[12] Vershinina I.A., Lyadova A.V. Zdorovye v tsifrovom izmerenii: “kontseptsiya zaboty” D. Lapton [Digital health: Deborah Lupton’s concept “Thinking with Care”]. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya — Sociological Studies, 2022, no. 4, pp. 105–113.