The Digital Disconnect: The Social Causes and Consequences of Digital Inequalities

With the increased digitisation of society comes an increased concern about who is left behind.

From societal causes to everyday actions, The Digital Disconnect explores the close and complex relationship between digital and social inequalities, and the lived consequences of digitisation.

Ellen Helsper goes beyond questions of digital divides and who's connected or not. She asks why and how social and digital inequalities are linked, and shows the tangible outcomes of socio-digital inequalities to everyday lives. The book:

• Introduces the key theories and concepts you need to know to understand both 'traditional' and digital inequalities research.
• Investigates a range of socio-digital inequalities, from digital access and skills, to work on civic participation, social engagement, and everyday content creation and consumption.
• Brings research to life with a selection of qualitative vignettes, drawing out the personal experiences that lay at the heart of global socio-digital inequalities.

The Digital Disconnect is an expert exploration of contemporary theory, research and practice in socio-digital inequalities. It is also an urgent and impassioned call to broaden your horizons, to expand your theoretical and methodological toolkits, and to work collectively to help achieve a fairer digital future for all.

Author: Ellen Helsper
Publisher: Sage Publications Ltd
Published: 05/06/2021
Pages: 248
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.78lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.52d
ISBN: 9781526463401

About the Author
Helsper, Ellen: - Ellen Helsper is Professor of Socio-Digital Inequalities in the Media and Communications Department at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Her research interests include the links between social and digital inequalities; vulnerability and discrimination in digital spaces; digital literacy; mediated communication and interpersonal relationships; and methodological innovation in quantitative and qualitative media and communications research. Her work is truly global in nature through her involvement in the From Digital Skills to Tangible Outcomes; Connected Communities and Inclusive Growth; YSkills; Global Kids Online and World Internet research projects. She consults widely for governments, the third and commercial sector on issues to do with client and citizen (dis)engagement in increasingly digital societies. Organisations that she has worked with include the BBC, European Commission, ITU, OECD, and UNESCO.
Ellen holds and has held Visiting Scholar positions at prestigious universities and research institutes in Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and the US. She has a PhD in Media and Communications from the LSE and an MSc degree in Media Psychology from Utrecht University and worked in commercial market and audience research in Europe, Latin America and the US.

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