Moving on up in the information society? A longitudinal analysis of the relationship between Internet use and social class mobility in Britain

2018/09/06 by Rebecca Eynon, Ulrike Deetjen, Lars-Erik Malmberg +1
Social Sciences · #Digital Economy and Work Transformation #Social Media and Politics #Youth Education and Societal Dynamics

paper · doi:10.1080/01972243.2018.1497744

openalex publication_date 2018/09/06 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25

Abstract

Many universal access policies are based on the assumption that the removal of the digital divide will enhance social mobility. But this assumption is not supported by the available evidence. Using four waves of longitudinal data from Britain we show that Internet use has a positive effect on social class mobility, while controlling for age, gender, education, health, and previous social class membership between 1997 and 2013. In doing so, we contribute to a wider discussion of the relationships between social and digital inequalities and highlight the challenges and potential of this methodological approach for future research.

Citations

• Has ICT Polarized Skill Demand? Evidence from Eleven Countries over Twenty-Five Years
• Understanding information inequality: Making sense of the literature of the information and digital divides
• User Acceptance of Information Technology: Toward A Unified View1
• Digital Distinction: Status‐Specific Types of Internet Usage^*

Related

• Digital exclusion and relative digital deprivation: Exploring factors and moderators of internet non-use in the UK
• Digital Distinction: Status‐Specific Types of Internet Usage^*
• Social Class and Digital Divide: Analyzing Digital Inequalities on Census and Digital Behavioral Data
• Broadband Internet and Social Capital
• Digital Divide: Mapping the geodemographics of internet accessibility across Great Britain