1,721,055 research outputs found
Book review:Schools under surveillance: cultures of control in public educationby Monahan Torin and Rodolfo D. Torres
No full textMonahan Torin and Rodolfo D. Torres' (eds.)Schools under surveillance: cultures of control in public education. New Brunswick, New Jersey, London: Rutgers University Press. 264 pp. $24.95 (US), Paperback. ISBN: 978-0-8135-4680-3
La Propaganda tra passato e presente: evoluzione e ipotesi di comparazione
Full text linkLa propaganda costituisce un ampio e affascinante oggetto di studio. Non poche sono le ricerche che hanno indagato l'argomento: dai più scientifici studi di Ellul (1967, 1973) a quelli più critici di Chomsky (1988, 1997) e Rampton e Stauber (2003), da quelli più accademici di Qualter (1985) e Doob (1950) sino alle più recenti ricerche di Pratkanis e Aronson (2001). Il comune denominatore è rinvenibile nella difficoltà riscontrata in tutte queste ricerche nel definirne il concetto e portare avanti una trattazione obiettiva non influenzata da pregiudizi. Le difficoltà sono imputabili alla connotazione negativa che il concetto di propaganda ha assunto con il passare del tempo. Infatti nonostante la sua iniziale neutralità, è andata assumendo i caratteri dispregiativi di un'opera di manipolazione ed è oggi spesso usata come sinonimo di un discorso falso e parziale. Inoltre essa viene spesso associata alle dittature, poiché è stata essenzialmente nei regimi totalitari che ha avuto modo di svilupparsi ed è proprio nelle dittature che è stata usata come tecnica e strumento fondamentale per il mantenimento dellostatus quo.Per questo motivo ci sembra necessaria una seppure sintetica definizione del fenomeno di propaganda ed un inquadramento storico, analizzandone poi il ruolo che essa riveste all'interno delle libere democrazie anche in termine di funzionalità per la loro evoluzione e sostentamento (Ellul 1967: 232). Si tratterà inoltre di come sia più complicato accertarne la presenza all'interno della libertà di stampa e trovi la sua forza, a differenza di quanto accade nei totalitarismi, nella sua onnipresenza e invisibilità
Reseña/Review (Ragnedda, Massimo, "The third digital divide: a Weberian approach to digital inequalities" Nueva York: Routledge, ISBN: 9781472471260 (hbk); ISBN: 978131560600 (ebk), 128 págs., 2017)
Full text linkReseña/Review (Ragnedda, Massimo, "The third digital divide: a Weberian approach to digital inequalities" Nueva York: Routledge, ISBN: 9781472471260 (hbk); ISBN: 978131560600 (ebk), 128 págs., 2017
Measuring Digital Capital: An empirical investigation
No full textThis article develops a Digital Capital Index by adopting the definition provided by
Ragnedda, who defines Digital Capital as the accumulation of digital competencies
and digital technologies, and the model for measuring it developed by Ragnedda and
Ruiu. It aims to develop a measure that can be replicated for comparison in different
contexts. This article contributes both theoretically and empirically to the literature by
(a) consolidating the concept of Digital Capital as a specific capital and (b) empirically
measuring it. A Digital Capital Index is developed through an exploratory factor
analysis (EFA) and validated with a representative sample survey of 868 UK citizens.
The validation procedure shows that the Digital Capital Index is associated with
socioeconomic and sociodemographic patterns, such as age, income, educational level
and place of residence, while it appears not to be related to gende
How offline backgrounds interact with digital capital
Full text linkThis article investigates the interaction between digital capital and some offline components (economic, cultural, political, social and personal) that represent the background against which we access and use the Internet. Based on a stratified sample of the UK population (868), six indexes (one for each component) were generated through factor analysis and univariate analysis. We summarised them into a unique model by performing a multiple linear regression to evaluate the role-played by offline components in the development/reinforcement of digital capital. The interaction between these new indexes and the digital capital index shows that, with the exception of the political component, all offline backgrounds positively contribute to digital capital. Moreover, the multiple regression analysis shows that the economic and social components have the strongest influence on digital capital
Digital–environmental habitus of families in England in times of pandemic
Full text linkThis article uses adopts a revised version of the concept of techno-environmental habitus to investigate and make sense of the differentiation among digital technology users’ attitudes towards the environment in England. Digital–environmental habitus refers to the combination of structural determinants (existing background) and the metabolised increased use of digital technologies in people’s everyday life that also interacts with individual environmental attitudes. The results of a national survey among English parents between 20 and 55 years suggest that parents’ education levels, gender, age and income play a role in increasing their awareness about the environmental-friendly use of digital technologies. This study shows that the digital–environmental habitus of parents in England is layered according to the combination of existing socioeconomic traits and individual capacity and willingness to adapt to a drastic increase in both the use of digital technologies (due to the social distancing imposed by the pandemic) and environmental degradation
Lack of ‘common sense’ in the climate change debate: Media behaviour and climate change awareness in the UK
Full text linkBased on an online survey conducted among a representative sample in the United Kingdom (n = 1013), this article investigates the role of traditional and new media in predicting climate change awareness. It suggests that individuals make choices under an ideological convincement that is organised within specific cultural and political-economic boundaries. It shows that the Gramscian concept of cultural hegemony is still valuable to make sense of an incessant process of formation and fragmentation of equilibria between social groups. Interpreting hegemony as a not totalitarian communicative process also suggests that the media represent a ground for counterhegemonies to flourish and trigger political transformation. This study constructs two indexes of both scepticism and advocacy of climate change by showing some traits of these two perspectives in the United Kingdom. It also shows that the division between sceptics and advocates’ convincement is not ‘black and white’, but a transitional space exists between hegemonic and counter-hegemonic forces
The self-reinforcing effect of digital and social exclusion: the inequality loop
Full text linkSince an increasing number of daily activities are carried out online, an exclusion or limited access to the Internet prevent citizens from entering a world full of opportunities that cannot be accessed otherwise; in this sense, inclusion in the digital realm is strictly connected to social inclusion. Digital inclusion is not conceived as a mere dichotomy, access versus no access, but in terms of the degree to which e-inclusion improve wellbeing for individuals, community and society. Using a quantitative method based on a multivariate analysis, multiple correspondence analysis and cluster analysis, applied to a representative sample of UK citizens, this article sheds light onto the gradual process of digital inclusion, highlighting how social and digital inclusion are intertwined and how people who have one or more social or economic vulnerabilities are more likely to be in the group of those who are digitally excluded
Measuring Digital Capital in Italy
No full textThis paper aims to theoretically and empirically investigate the concept of digital capital in the Italian context. Digital capital can be conceived as independent individual capital whose lack within a population can be a cause of digital inequality. Our paper draws from recent works that have measured the Digital Capital as a combination of digital access and digital competences, and have tested this operational definition through an online survey on a UK sample. The results of such research proved the construct validity of the operational definition, thus showing that Digital Capital could be empirically measured. However, a measurement model needs to be tested and validated over time and in different socio-cultural contexts in order to be refined and strengthened, and eventually disseminated on a large scale. This is the reason why this paper will show the results of a funded research project (named DigCapItaly) carried out to test the validity of the Digital Capital measure in a different country, i.e. Italy. The data were collected with an online survey using a representative sample (by age, gender and geographical area) of individuals living in Italy aged 18 years or more.
The creation of a composite index to measure Digital Capital followed a two-stage Principal Component Analysis approach. First, the paper provides a methodological framework for facing challenges and pitfalls in operationalizing and assessing a complex concept in social research. Secondly, results show that Digital Capital operational definition works in Italy as well as in the UK, thus legitimizing its recognition as an independent capital
Converting Digital Capital in Five Key Life Realms
Full text linkThis article theorizes fresh connections between Bourdieusian social theory, and the digital divide in five key areas: political, economic, cultural, social, and personal digital advantage. In so doing it makes new arguments about how digital resources result in benefits that accrue from the combination of both access to and use of ICTs. In this way, the findings shed additional light on the third level of the digital divide by focusing on the role played by digital capital in influencing the uneven distribution of benefits that derive from the use of the Internet. Based on a structured sample of the UK population, the article adopts the model of digital capital developed by Ragnedda, Ruiu and Addeo (2019). Findings show that varied levels of digital capital are related to engagement in activities that have political, social, economic, cultural, and personal valence. Thus, the study offers compelling evidence of the increasing importance of digital capital in everyday life
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