Digital political participation and the political digital divide in Spain. A study of digital inequalities

Abstract

Variables relating to attitudes and beliefs towards politics and sociodemographic variables are commonplace in studies on political participation. We take these two traditions in order to study digital political participation. However, rather than doing so in order to explain activism, which is usually the case, we seek to explain a specific type of inequality in the information and knowledge society: the political digital divide. Given that digital political participation takes place through a medium that is not universally used, namely the Internet, it is important to know which citizens are in a position to opt for the advantages the political use of this medium represents. Studies exist analysing the way in which the political digital divide appears in terms of sociodemographic and attitudinal variables. Here, however, we try to present a model that helps us understand how these two groups of variables relate in terms of the relationship to digital political participation. The aim is to offer a fuller perspective of the sources of digital political inequalities.