Virtual Inequality: Beyond the Digital Divide

Virtual Inequality: Beyond the Digital Divide. By Karen Mossberger, Caroline J. Tolbert, and Mary Stansbury. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2003. 208p. 19. 95. Whether or not certain demographic groups within society have sufficient access to information and communication technology (ICT) has become a major subject of debate. So-called digital divides have been examined in regard to many demographic categories, such as race, gender, socioeconomic status, and even the level of urbanization. Most empirical efforts to examine issues of technological inequities within the United States have been primarily descriptive in nature and theoretically limited in scope. Virtual Inequality: Beyond the Digital Divide adds a valuable contribution to the debate by examining not only who has access to ICT but also to what extent they have sufficient skills to truly make use of such technologies and the information that they potentially provide.