Ruth’s Sociology Resources Blog

A group of researchers at York University have classified the UK’s neighbourhoods according to characteristics of technology uses, in particular looking at internet usage.  It suggests that there are interactions of age, social class, education, wealth and occupational sector that affect how much we make use of IT and the ways in which we use it.  The different classifications are quite detailed and you can search for your postcode’s classification to see where your neighbourhood fits in.

Although the research itself doesn’t seem to be seeking to create any particular social theory, but rather to facilitate future economic and town planning, it does raise some interesting social questions.  The suggestion is that the use or non-use of IT affects individuals purchasing power and habits and their participation in any kind of consumption culture that may exist.  There are also questions about the ways in which groups which are marginalised in terms of access to and knowledge of the internet may, through that process of marginalisation, be further excluded from society in a wider sense.

The rapid pace of technological change impacts on society in a wider way than may initially meet the eye.  This website might make a good starting point for class discussions on social change and stratification, taking it beyond simple divisions of gender, ethnicity and social class and indicating the ways in which all these interact and have far reaching impacts.

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