The Impact of Digitalization on Social Inequality
Authors: Yudina Maria A. 
Published: April 2020

The Object of the Study. Modern theoretical and methodological approaches to the assessment of social inequality.

The Subject of the Study. Internationally used indicators to assess the digital divide.

The Purpose of the Study is analyzing of the theoretical and methodological approaches used in international practice to assess digital inequality in order to find ways to improve the indicators which currently are used in the Rossiyskaya Federatsiya.

The Main Provisions of the Article. This author examines the following aspects of the impact of digitalization on Russian society: changes in the availability of information resources for different categories of the population caused by the use of ICT, differentiation in special skills for using ICT, and differences in the dynamics of changes in the quality and standard of living. The process of theoretical and methodological understanding of the phenomenon of digital inequality began in the second half of the XX century. It was initially understood as an economic difference between people in terms of their access to certain technologies, however it gradually gained a more comprehensive conceptualization as a systemic phenomenon: a manifestation of structural social inequality in a network society. Today researchers identify three levels of the digital divide (or steps in its evolution), highlighting the growing role of digital skills as well as social connections, intellectual, motivational and wider – human capital in social stratification. The problem of the inequality between individuals on the matter of using digital skills to improve level and quality of life is exacerbated by Industry 4.0 implementation and realization of the Russian government project of the creation of the digital economy. Analysis of the current Rosstat data from the point of view of three levels of digital inequality showed significant improvements in its first level – every year ICT becomes more accessible for Russians. The increase in the number of users leads to a drop in the average indicators of digital skills proficiency, nevertheless the number of Russians using such technologies to improve their level and quality of life is gradually growing. However, additional work is needed in this direction to make the reduction of third-level inequality a sustainable trend.

The analysis of indicators which currently are used in the Rossiyskaya Federatsiya to assess the development of the information society, carried out in the framework of this study, demonstrated their compliance with international standards. The theoretical and methodological problem of the statistical methodology used by The Rosstat was revealed: the current indicators do not allow to reflect the correlation between the employment of the population and it’s level of the digital skills. Therefore the indicators currently used in Russiya for digital divide evaluation do not allow to access the readiness of the population to the transition period between industrial revolutions which are always accompanied by the primary wave of technological unemployment in the process of creative destruction of social and economic systems.

The Russian state program «Digital Economy» had the strategic target «to launch a regular monitoring to identify the needs of different groups of the working population in the formation of digital economy competencies with the involvement of employers» by June 2019. However checking of the governmental sites of the authorities, who are responsible for the implementation of the mentioned monitoring showed that it is still not ready or just doesn’t accessible for general public.