The Matthew Effect in the Italian Digital Context: The Progressive Marginalisation of the “Poor”

The Matthew effect describes a model according to which, over time, inequal- ities fuel ever-widening gaps among individuals and social groups on the basis of the wellknown adage: ‘‘the rich get richer and the poor get poorer’’. In this paper, we analyse the results of the Matthew effect in Italy in relation to first and second level digital divide, in order to determine the trajectories of closure, persistence or reinforcement of inequal- ities within the population. The central research question of the work aims to understand whether, when compared with a higher level of dissemination of technology over time, the adoption curves trace a model of progressive inclusion for the ‘‘poor’’ which approach the ‘‘richest’’, or whether progressive increases are recorded in gaps. Considering a time span of more than a decade, microdata from the Istat multipurpose ‘‘Aspects of daily life’’ survey were used to find an empirically grounded answer to this research question. In terms of methodology, indices of absolute and relative digital exclusion and marginalisation which are necessary to take into account the changing nature of the phenomenon were proposed and used. Techniques of multivariate analysis (cluster analysis and multiple factor analysis) were also applied to detect any changes in the structure of variables and trajectories of the socio-demographic characteristics in question. The main results show the existence of a relative Matthew effect in Italy: despite the general increase in the spread of technologies, we are witnessing a progressive impoverishment of the weakest sectors of the population

Digital Divide in Time of Crisis in Europe: do the Rich get Richer, the Poor get Poorer?

The analysis proposed in this essay investigates the Matthew effect in the context of a social context already heavily affected by the financial crisis.The hypothesis guiding this work, therefore, is that are witnessing a widening of the existing gaps, with the “poor” suffering a more pronounced process of exclusion from the network society in spite of the generalized increase in ICTs diffusion. That phenomenon can be analyzed both at a micro level, focusing on the individuals, and at a macro level, focusing on the digital divide between countries. We adopt a diachronic macro perspective, comparing the changes in levels of digital exclusion between the different member states of the European Union (EU) starting from 2007, the year preceding the beginning of the economic crisis, until 2014. The use of extensive data from Eurostat, the official statistical office of the European Union, allowed to highlight the dynamic nature of this phenomenon over time, while the development of relative indexes allowed to monitor the persistence of the first level of digital divide from a comparative perspective

La causazione multipla del pregiudizio: analisi del modello statistico

A statistical model of structural equations was applied to the data structure, in order to reconstruct the causal path of the influential factors of prejudice. The analysis confirms the presence of multiple causes (Allport): the ideological component is conditioned by a menacing representation of the foreigner, and this connection is influenced by the distance of the relationship and an identity structure affected by post-modern (Bauman) or traditional inadequacy

Social Inequalities in Digital Skills: The European framework and the Italian case

This chapter focuses on digital skills, and its aim is to empirically assess the Matthew effect in Italy. Thus, following an empirical point of view, microdata from Italian official statistical sources (Istat, Istituto Nazionale di Statistica) and harmonised European indicators have been used. The chapter is structured as follows: Section 2 overviews the various measurement approaches suggested in the literature. Section 3 presents the European framework that is the operating procedures – and the recent changes – proposed by the European Commission to detect and measure eSkills. Using Istat microdata, Sections 4 and 5 focus on the Italian context, to identify the synthetic indices of e-skills and an Internet user’s typology based on digital competence and socio-demographic characteristics. Finally, in Section 6 the main results are summarized and new lines of research are proposed. This chapter highlights the relation between e-inclusion and e-skills, starting with the complexity of these concepts, which are often applied with different semantic dimensions and different modalities of measurement. The different approaches to establishing indicators of e-skills inevitably introduce elements of diversification. To obviate this problem, setting up shared indicators, used in periodical extensive surveys, makes it possible to compare the results in cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. Thus, it seems appropriate to use indicators harmonised in the European Union. The results of this study, which was based on using data collected by the Italian official statistical sources (Istat), reveals the convergence of skills pertaining to computer use with those linked to the Internet use. A diversification of skills in terms of complexity and the different types of ability is clear, depending on a prevalently instrumental or prevalently relational use of the technology. Digital inequalities are thus reiterated, also within a segment of the population that represents the youngest, better qualified subgroup, better positioned in terms of the labour market and which can consider itself “included”, on the basis of the simple criterion of net access. Even within the connected group, the dynamics of the Matthew effect can be seen: those with the "richest" personal resources activate a cumulative multiplication of advantages that follows the logic of “those who have, will be given more”. Instead the “poorest” are victims of a cumulative multiplication of disadvantages according to the logic of “those who have nothing, will have even that taken away”. Thus, there are categories of subjects who are “richer” and “poorer” in e-skills, who again present the customary inequalities of gender (men/women), generations (young/old), and culture (low/high education). These elements reiterate the old, but not negligible, inequalities, heightened by the new technologies: "the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer"

The Matthew Effect in the Italian Digital Context. The Progressive Marginalisation of the “Poor”

The Matthew effect describes a model according to which, over time, inequalities fuel ever-widening gaps among individuals and social groups on the basis of the wellknown adage: ‘‘the rich get richer and the poor get poorer’’. In this paper, we analyse the results of the Matthew effect in Italy in relation to first and second level digital divide, in order to determine the trajectories of closure, persistence or reinforcement of inequalities within the population. The central research question of the work aims to understand whether, when compared with a higher level of dissemination of technology over time, the adoption curves trace a model of progressive inclusion for the ‘‘poor’’ which approach the ‘‘richest’’, or whether progressive increases are recorded in gaps. Considering a time span of more than a decade, microdata from the Istat multipurpose ‘‘Aspects of daily life’’ survey were used to find an empirically grounded answer to this research question. In terms of methodology, indices of absolute and relative digital exclusion and marginalisation which are necessary to take into account the changing nature of the phenomenon were proposed and used. Techniques of multivariate analysis (cluster analysis and multiple factor analysis) were also applied to detect any changes in the structure of variables and trajectories of the socio-demographic characteristics in question. The main results show the existence of a relative Matthew effect in Italy: despite the general increase in the spread of technologies, we are witnessing a progressive impoverishment of the weakest sectors of the population

Social Inequalities in digital Skills. The European context and the Italian case

The birth of the ‘information society’ has stimulated reflections on issues related to the strengthening of social inequality and the formation of new disparities. Considerations on this phenomenon, commonly referred to as the ‘Digital Divide’, have undergone progressive refinement over the years, discerning differences between individuals not only in terms of ‘possibility of Internet access’ but also including manifold variables that contribute to determining different abilities in acquiring and managing information data in optimal manner. In brief, there are signs of a ‘second-level digital divide’ in which attention is no longer exclusively focussed on the differences between information haves and have-nots, but also on the inequalities that diversified uses of the net produce in the social life of individuals, in their opportunities for personal and social empowerment and in the growing process of marginalisation of the victims of ‘information poverty’ in terms of opportunities to participate in the economic, social and political life of a nation. The approach used in this chapter focuses on the issue of ‘digital skills’ because it is believed that digital skills are the key to the Information society: the higher the level of skills of the individual, the greater is the inclusion in the knowledge society . From the empirical point of view, this study uses harmonised and standardised at European level indicators. It is proposed an analytic model that articulates these indicators around semantic areas of skills. The empirical analysis, undertaken at European level and in particular in the Italian context, sheds light on a diversification of e-skills related to levels of complexity and of different uses of the technology. There emerges an ‘elementary’ and ‘non expert’ use of the net, especially among certain ‘risk’ categories, that redefines digital inequalities also in the context of a segment of the population that could be considered already included, in terms of access

La e-inclusion e le competenze digitali: il contesto Europeo e il caso dell’Italia

Quanti sono gli inclusi nella società dell'informazione? Il saggio si propone di indicare un percorso di "misurazione" adeguato per monitorare un fenomeno sociale complesso come quello dell'esclusione digitale. In particolare, ragionando su diversi indicatori elementari che vanno a comporre la dimensione delle competenze digitali nella società informazionale. Infatti, la polisemia derivante dalla “mobilità” del concetto lo modifica rapidamente nel tempo, rendendo necessarie continue ridefinizioni operative per una rilevazione empirica finalizzata alla misurazione. Questa “messa a punto” empirica diventa essenziale in un panorama in cui il possesso delle “eskills” rappresenta una leva capace di incidere concretamente sull’accesso e sull’uso della rete: maggiore è il livello di competenze che un soggetto possiede, maggiori saranno i benefici che gli deriveranno dall’uso della rete stessa e le probabilità di innescare un circolo virtuoso di implementazione continua delle proprie abilità

Cittadini e Pubbliche Amministrazioni: tra fiducia e sfiducia

E' il report di un'indagine realizzata in collaborazione con il Formez che ha coinvolto un campione di 1.500 cittadini rappresentativo dei residenti nei capoluoghi di regione. Obiettivo generale dell’indagine era quello di mettere a punto uno strumento di valutazione e di controllo dell’efficacia e dell’efficienza delle Amministrazioni locali mediante il monitoraggio dei diversi bisogni evasi e inevasi dei cittadini e la messa in luce delle maggiori criticità legate alla relazione utente-servizio

Imprese e Pubbliche Amministrazioni: un dialogo possibile?

L’obiettivo generale dell’indagine era duplice: - rilevare la percezione delle imprese rispetto al ruolo delle Amministrazioni Pubbliche locali nello sviluppo del territorio; - individuare il grado di soddisfazione delle imprese nei confronti dei principali servizi e degli strumenti di politica economica locale offerti dalle Amministrazioni Pubbliche. Sul piano empirico l’obiettivo generale è stato ricondotto a una serie di obiettivi specifici e, dunque, ad alcune dimensioni nell’ambito delle quali individuare indicatori più concreti, osservabili e rilevabili. La ricerca ha coinvolto un campione rappresentativo sul piano nazionale di 751 imprenditori