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

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.