Contemporary Virtual Social Environments as a Factor of Social Inequality Emergence
Contemporary Virtual Social Environments as a Factor of Social Inequality Emergence

Summary/Abstract: The paper deals with the problems of social inequality. On the one hand, the contemporary virtual social environments promote levelling out the social inequality in many cases,while on the other hand, they are but a source of social inequality as well. The limited physicalaccess to information and communication technologies, the distinctions of information andcommunication competencies of users, physiological peculiarities of people, and information threatswere analyzed as examples. The secondary data of the results of sociological surveys were used forthe analysis. Using the case of Russia, the mechanisms for levelling out the social inequality aredemonstrated. The work is of practical value for specialists dealing with problems of socialinequality and the development of the contemporary information and communication technologies.

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