The Diffusion of Information and Communications Technologies: Objective and Subjective Obstacles

Authors

  • Anna Galácz ITHAKA
  • Tibor Dessewffy Institute of Social Relations, Eötvös University of Sciences
  • Zsófia Rét TÁRKI Social Research Center

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15847/obsOBS232008190

Keywords:

internet, diffusion, economic barriers, cultural capital

Abstract

Even though one of the noteworthy aspects of the Internet is the high speed of its diffusion all over the world, Internet use has been spreading relatively slowly in Hungary. This means, that the digital divide, a central topic for Internet-related scientific research, continues to be highly significant in Hungary. This paper examines the causes of the slow catching up of certain groups and the formation of the typical patterns of digital divides. Literature both on social diffusion and the digital divide was used in our research. Our results show that in addition to the divisive dimensions most often discussed by the literature on the digital divide, a further factor, cultural capital, seems to play an important role. The starting hypothesis of our research is that besides economic barriers, widely accepted as the most important cause of not using the Internet significantly influential cultural factors can be detected behind the patterns of diffusion in Hungary. With such a hypothesis we can counter the view, less and less present but still dominating public opinion, that providing access suffices to speed up diffusion and to help groups falling behind catch up.

Author Biographies

Anna Galácz, ITHAKA

Sociologist, senior researcher at the ITHAKA research company. Sociology PhD student at the Faculty of Social Sceinces, Eötvös University, Hungary. Member of the Hungarian World Internet Project research team from 2001, and scientific coordinator of the project since 2006. Earned MA in Sociology from the Eötvös University in 2003. Participated in the Internet&Elections project as a member of the Hungarian research team. Scientific interest: technology adoption, diffusion models, social shaping of technologies.

Tibor Dessewffy, Institute of Social Relations, Eötvös University of Sciences

PhD, Sociologist, associate professor at the, Institute of Social Relations, Faculty of Social Sciences, Eötvös University of Sciences, Budapest. Founder of the Center for Information and Network Research at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Eötvös University. Also co-founder and leader of the Hungarian research team of the World Internet Project. Earned Ma in Law and in Sociology from the Eötvös Unversity, PhD in Sociology from the University of Amsterdam. Research Fellow at the New School for Social Research in 1998 and Mellon Fellow in the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh in 2001. Member of the National Council for Communications and Information Technology. Author of more than hundred scientific papers and publications. Scientific interest: theories of the information society, links between technological developments and social and cultural changes.

Zsófia Rét, TÁRKI Social Research Center

Sociologist, researcher at the TÁRKI Social Research Institue, Budapest. Member and former methodological coordinator (2001-2004) of the Hungarian World Internet Project’s research team. Also associated to the Center for Information and Network Research at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Eötvös University, Budapest. Earned MA in sociology and media studies also from the Eötvös University in 2003. Specially interested in the topics of digital exclusion, and statistical modelling.

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Published

2008-07-02

How to Cite

Galácz, A., Dessewffy, T., & Rét, Z. (2008). The Diffusion of Information and Communications Technologies: Objective and Subjective Obstacles. Observatorio (OBS*), 2(3). https://doi.org/10.15847/obsOBS232008190

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 3 (2008)

Section

Articles

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