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Class Action
November 2008 E-news:
Class and Technology
In this Issue
1. Election 2008
2. Class and Technology
3. Book of the Month: Virtual Inequality: Beyond the Digital Divide by Karen Mossberger, Caroline Tolbert, and Mary Stansbury
4. Related Articles
5. Resources
6. Action of the Month
7. Take our Survey
8. Call for Submissions for a cross-class anthology: Caviar, Coupons and College: Stories Across the Class Spectrum
1. Election 2008
This election cycle has seen many firsts, broken a lot of records and brings with it incredible opportunities for our country. We at Class Action are excited by the energy, action, and dialogue all around us!
In 2004 a total of 122 million people voted; only 56% of all eligible voters. This time around, as of Nov 3rd, 27 million voters have already sent in their absentee ballots or voted early and all signs indicate that past underrepresented/suppressed voter groups will turn out in record numbers.
Whoever wins this election will face one of the greatest economic challenges our country has seen. You can count on Class Action to continue to bring class into the national dialogue. No matter who wins, we need to work to build social movements for transformative change.
This election is not the end. Hopefully it will be a new beginning.
2. Class and Technology
Touch-screen cell phones and mp3 players, digital television, faster connections—new technologies pop up and existing technologies evolve at a dizzying pace. The general consensus in the media and in tech-savvy circles is that such innovation improves our quality of life. But does it do so for everybody? While experts continue to extol the virtues of technology as the “greatest equalizing force our society or any other has ever known” as Bill Clinton famously remarked in 2000, evidence of a “digital divide” both within the US and globally continues to bring such claims into question. While overall access has indeed increased, this access—to the Internet, digital television, and other kinds of communication technologies—is radically lopsided towards the upper end of the income spectrum. Similarly skewed are the distributions of high-quality access (such as broadband internet and digital TV) and the skills needed to effectively use new technologies.
The digital divide is a much more complex issue than is commonly thought, often resulting in piecemeal solutions. Do computer hubs in pubic libraries really solve the problem of differential access to, and ability to successfully use, the Internet? Will digital TV box vouchers really address the issue of thousands of Americans—disproportionately old and poor—who stands tolose access to their local news stations in January of 2009? The consumption of cutting-edge technology such as iPhones and the iPod Touch is a marker of class. What are the consequences, particularly among youth, of some being able to afford such gadgets while others are left behind holding Discmans?
Of course, despite the indications that the “digital divide” is widening and taking on new forms as quickly as new technology is developed, technology itself is not to blame. Consider programs such as the $100 laptop project, or the ways in which anti-poverty groups and groups such as Class Action are able to use technology effectively to educate the public about inequality. It would be a glaring inconsistency to focus solely on the negative effects of technology in a newsletter distributed entirely via the Internet. The following resources examine issues of class and technology from both perspectives, reminding us that in the end, technologies are tools that can be used to both bring us together and to pull us apart.
3. Book of the Month:
Virtual Inequality: Beyond the Digital Divide. Mossberger, Karen, Caroline Tolbert, and Mary Stansbury. Georgetown University Press, Washington, D.C. 2003
Reviewed by Lynette Kvasny
There are two central arguments in this book. First, computer and Internet access are insufficient without the technical and literacy skills to actually use the technology. Second, the analysis of the disparities in economic opportunity and political participation supports the contention that the digital divide is a public problem and not simply a matter of private misfortune. Read More...
4. Related Articles on Class and Technology
The Low Access People
by Tiny of PoorNewsNetwork
I sat quietly, in panel after panel, afraid to move or make too much noise as tech-embedded words like, White space, Bit Torrent, Net Neutrality and Blogosphere floated past my ears. Read More...
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Civil rights group warns of digital TV troubles
by Jim Puzzanghera
Television started out as a luxury. But in the Information Age, it has become a vital way for many people -- particularly technophobes or those who can't afford the Internet -- to stay connected to the world. Read More...
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Viewing American Class Divisions Through Facebook and MySpace
by danah boyd
MySpace and Facebook are new representations of the class divide in American youth. Read More...
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Technology and the New Class Divide
by Paul Lamb
Like many back in the late 1990s, I was convinced the Internet and the growing use of computers could play a major role in leveling the playing field between the haves and have-nots. Read More..
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5. Resources:
Closing the Digital Divide
Provides survey and demographic information on access to the Internet, as well as data on underserved populations and areas.
Washington State University Center to Bridge the Digital Divide
Center devoted to equalizing information access and resources. Links to various projects in the Washington state area. Links to pilot programs such as community investment initiative.
Bridge The Digital Divide
An effort of bridging the digital divide between the developed world and the developing world.
Toolkit for Bridging the Digital Divide in your Community
This Tool Kit is intended for community leaders, government staff, business leaders and grass roots volunteers. It offers some basic tips on how to bridge the digital divide through the development of a community project.
6. Action of the Month
Internet For Everyone is a national initiative is comprised of “public interest, civic and industry groups” and was formed at the end of June 2008 to address the digital divide. They are calling for a national broadband policy that will make the Internet accessible to everyone in the US. Read More...
7. Take our Survey
How is your access to technology – or lack of access – shaped by your class position? How does your class position affect the ways you use that technology?
Submit a response here. Read other survey responses here.
8. Call for Submissions for a Cross-Class Anthology: Caviar, Coupons and College: Stories from Across the Class Spectrum
- When was the first time you realized what class you grew up in?
· What were some of the strengths you got from your class experience? What were some of the limitations?
· What stereotypes about your class were or weren't true for you? What class stereotypes did you most worry about embodying?
· Is there class tension between you and family members, friends, co-workers, or community?
· Tell us about an "a-ha" moment in the development of your class consciousness.
Class Action, a national non-profit working for economic justice and to "inspire action to end classim," is putting together an anthology of personal stories from across the class spectrum, and is calling for submissions in the hope of furthering our collective dialogue about class. We especially encourage voices from groups that have been marginalized.
Submissions should be from 1,000 to 2,500 words, and include a brief one paragraph biography about you, the author. Submissions will be accepted through February 28, 2009.
Please email submissions to Pete Redington at predington@classism.org. Include your submission in the body of the email, and write "anthology submission" in the subject line.
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