A Capabilities Approach to Digital Inequalities Rethinking Differentiated Internet Use among Latinos

1
A Capabilities Approach to Digital
InequalitiesRethinking Differentiated Internet
Use among Latinos
University of Texas at Austin
By Martha Fuentes-Bautista, Juan Piñon, Joseph
Straubhaar, University of Texas, Austin Viviana
Rojas University of Texas, San Antonio
2
Context of the Study

• Internet penetration in the U.S. reaching 60-70
  (Pew UCLA studies)
• Possible stall of Internet growth
• Peak in the adoption curve in higher income
  groups close to 90 penetration
• Minorities are catching up, in particular Latinos
  in higher income groups
• The world of Non-users 52 I dont want it or
  dont need it (Pew 2004). Individual choice vs.
  structured response
• Below 40 penetration in poorer segments of the
  population across ethnic groups (Pew 2003)

3
Context of the Study

• Online activities are growing and different
  people do different things
• Differential online experience between some
  demographic groups. (Madden, 2004)
• African Americans, senior citizens, or those with
  lower levels of education and income are not
  engaged in the most sophisticated Internet
  activities, or are not doing it at the same rate
• How are structural factors associated to the
  increase of differentiated Internet use?

4
Context of the Study

• Internet in Texas (Strover Straubhaar, 2000
  Straubhaar et al., 2004)
• In 2004 78 have computers and 97 of them go
  online
• Home broadband increase from 12.3 to 46.6
  between 2000 and 2004
• Ethnicity is the strongest predictor of domestic
  broadband adoption followed by income and
  education
• 48.7 Anglos 31.3 African Americans 43.5
  Hispanics
• Spaces of access divided by race, income and
  education
• Ethnic minorities and poor people significantly
  more likely to use public spaces to access the
  Internet

5
Refocusing on Use

• The transformative potential of the technology
  lays in its use.
• Distinguishing between different potential uses
  of the technology and the uses actually made
• Why potentialities available are not actualized?
• Internet use is structured
• We need to understand the socially structured
  variations of Internet experience among people
  with access to ICTs
• High rates of Internet penetration will increase
  the salience of new kinds of inequality among
  Internet users (DiMaggio et al, 2004)
• We need to identifying the critical dimensions
  where inequality intercept with differentiated
  Internet use

6
Reconsidering digital inequalities

• Inequalities as lack of capabilities (Amartya
  Sens approach to social inequality)
• Inequalities are produced by deprivation of
  capabilities and opportunities
• Access to resources is important but not enough
• Intangible resources are also needed (know-how or
  how best to employ access to resources).
  Capabilities allow achievement and freedom of
  choice
• Capabilities are developed by the interplay of
  structural conditions and individual agency
• Capabilities as the disposition and ability to
  realize fully the potential of the technology

7
Reconsidering digital inequalities

• Individuals Trajectory and Habitus and the
  Internet
• Habitus Thoughts, perceptions, expressions,
  action whose limits are set by the historically
  and situated conditions of its production Set
  of social dispositions that organize social
  practices (Bourdieu, 1972)
• Trajectory Families are places where cultural,
  economic and social capital are transmitted
  defining given paths. Families reproduce values
  or resources they also create the conditions for
  change. But each generation has a sense of
  innovation (agency) (Bertaux Gonzalez)
• We look at
• Techno-dispositions (Rojas et al, 2004)
• The dispositions and ability to use technology
• Techno-trajectory
• Paths or previous experiences with other
  technologies that inform the adoption and use of
  new ones

8
Research Questions

• How are structural factors associated with the
  increase of differentiated Internet use?
• Class, ethnicity, education, language proficiency
  and migration trajectory
• How do social inequalities reflect on
  differentiated techno-dispositions?

9
Methods sample

• Family trajectory (Occupation, education,
  migration) (Gonzalez, 2001 Mass, 2003)
• Personal histories (In-depth interviews and
  genograms)
• Family histories
• Assessment of media uses by generations
• Survey and semi-structured interview
• Sample
• Convenient sample families living in working
  class and middle class neighborhoods of Austin
  (for at least 3 years)
• 34 informants Latinos (24) Anglos (10)
• 18 individual life histories 16 members of 5
  families (3 Latino and 2 Anglo families)
• Female 22 Male12
• G I (Grandparents) 8 G II (Parents) 14 G III
  (Children) 12

10
Family trajectory Grandparents (G1)

• Latino grandparents exposed to significant
  economic and educational barriers over their
  lives
• Anglos mostly college educated, inherited
  property or had investments. Latinos high school
  education or less, workers
• Latinos migrated within rural areas and
  eventually to cities whereas Anglo largely moved
  from city to city
• Spanish as the first language for most of the
  Latinos
• TV is the preferred medium across groups
• Among Latinos, word of mouth was a highly
  valued medium for acquiring information

11
G1 and Internet use

• Significant gap in the level of Internet use
  between Anglos and Latinos.
• Anglos tend to be light users (email, searching
  for hobby and health information ) whereas
  Latinos tend not to use the Internet
• Class, defined by access to economic and cultural
  capital, is directly related to Internet use.
• There is a clear different in techno-dispositions
  between Anglos and Latinos.
• Anglos tend to look at Internet from a neutral to
  positive perspective and Latinos mostly hold from
  neutral to negative views about the technology
• All members of this generation do not perceive
  themselves a part of the contemporary Internet
  user nor part of the Internet world.
• Religion and family values is a common
  explanation for non-use among the non-users of
  this generation

12
Family trajectory Parents (G2)

• Largest Anglo-Latino gap remains in cultural
  capital.
• All Anglos had college education while majority
  of Latinos had only high school or less
• Differences in economic capital are still very
  significant
• Education had a higher symbolic capital among
  Anglo parents.
• Some Latino parents reported that their parents
  emphasized job skills rather than education
• The majority of Latino parents spoke Spanish as
  1st language, and later almost all became
  bilingual.
• Migration patterns in Anglo parents are urban to
  urban whereas Latino parents moved from rural to
  urban
• The city opened up possibilities for education,
  occupation and English language skills among
  Latinos.
• In this generation TV is still the most widely
  used medium
• Anglo parents are moderate to heavy Internet
  users whereas Latino parents either do not use
  the technology or tend to light use

13
G2 and Internet use

• Class reinforced by ethnicity between Anglos and
  Latinos appeared as the most important factors
  marking different degrees of engagement with the
  Internet.
• Ethnicity seems to act as a significant marker
  between fully engaged Internet users and light
  users or non-users
• Educational trajectory can change these class and
  ethnic patterns
• The urban milieu provided Latinos migrating from
  rural areas with wider cultural resources (such
  as language proficiency, formal education,
  occupation) encouraging them to engage with ICTs
• Among the parent generation, not people like me
  (in class and occupation terms) factor related to
  non-use or light use.
• Latino parents tend to report job and general
  environment that does not demand or encourage
  Internet use.
• This is particularly clear among non-users. In
  some cases, people talked about restrictions
  against using the Internet in the workplace

14
Family trajectory The Youth (G3)

• Main gap between Anglos and Latinos is in
  economic and cultural capital
• Some Latinos come from working class families
  while all young Anglos were from middle class,
  professional families
• All young Anglos college educated or in process
  while some young Latinos are dropouts or only
  have secondary education
• For young, middle class Anglos college education
  is a naturalized expectation, whereas for middle
  class young Latinos education is portrayed as an
  opportunity to achieve social mobility
• Internet is the central medium across groups.
  However Latinos tend to be lighter users or user
  of certain applications, whereas all the Anglos
  are heavy users
• Internet is valued over other media for its
  ability to provide instant information.
• For young Latinos exposure to Internet have come
  mostly through school. Young Anglos seem to have
  longer, more intense exposure, starting at home.
  
• TV comes as a secondary media after the Internet.
  TV allows for passive entertainment and easy
  access and use
• All members of this generation, across groups
  consider themselves to be users of ICTs

15
G3 and Internet use

• The prevalent vision is that Internet is part of
  everyday life
• Class is associated with differences in
  engagement with the Internet
• Level of education attainment is central for a
  fully capable, integrated Internet experience
• Using for work, play, education, entertainment

16
Conclusions Structural conditions

• Anglos exhibit a trajectory of higher
  accumulation of economic and cultural capital
  over generations
• Latinos who get to college seem to be catching up
  in resources and capabilities in the latest
  generation
• Migration trajectory over generations was
  different
• Anglos show urban-urban migration patterns
  whereas Latinos had done the change from
  rural-urban more recently. For the latter, the
  change has widened the access to education,
  occupation, and accumulation of wealth
• Significant difference in language proficiency
  between groups was a disadvantage to oldest
  generations
• Young Latinos tend to be bilingual which should
  reduce linguistic disadvantage

17
Conclusions Trajectory of techno-dispositions

• Significant differences across generations in
  preferred media used
• Grandparents and parents more TV oriented
• Young more Internet oriented
• Grandparent and parent Latinos less exposed to
  Internet at work, in social networks, i.e. their
  group habitus, so less favorably disposed to
  Internet
• Less positive, less capable and less likely to
  use
• Not as incorporated in lives of parent generation
  Latinos
• People like me factor

18
Conclusions Trajectory of techno-dispositions

• Impacts of trajectory still stratify young
  Latinos from young Anglos
• Techno-competencies of Latinos more recently
  acquired
• At school instead of home
• Internet less fully integrated into their lives
• Access to higher education is an important factor
  shifting techno-trajectory for the younger
  generation
• Those who do reach college are catching up in
  Internet use and capability