Learning, Digital Skills, and the Global South

Jeffrey James

Cheltenham (UK); Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing (2025), vi, 122 pp.

Contains bibliogr. pp. 110-119, index

ISBN 978-1-0353-4856-5 (e-book); 978-1-0353-4855-8 (print)

"With our modern world relying more and more on Internet-based technologies, this timely book takes a renewed look at the ever-increasing digital divide between developing and more technologically advanced countries and the resulting impacts on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Jeffrey James conducts a methodological and conceptual review of the patterns and shortfalls arising from the technological divide between countries, recommending a more proactive response for countries that are struggling to minimise the gap. He juxtaposes the current usage of technology coupled with the prohibitive cost of accessing the Internet in the Global South against the cost of living in poverty, the lack of literacy, and learned digital skills. The book addresses these key issues and investigates the current gender disparity, offering solutions for implementing low-cost policies such as the recent successful launch of the inexpensive JioPhone handset." (Publisher description)

1 Introduction to Learning, Digital Skills, and the Global South, 1
2 Paradoxical elements of the digital use divide, 8
3 The digital divide in a multiplicative sequential framework, 22
4 The poverty calculus: a critque, 32
5 Non-neoclassical theory and the welfare effects of the third digital divide in the Global South, 45
6 Gender, patriarchy, and the digital divide, 64
7 The digital divide: learning and information. Outcomes and policy implications in the Global South, 77
8 Education, digital skills, and learning, 91
9 Conclusions to Learning, Digital Skills, and the Global South, 102

Topics:

Digital Divide, Digital Inequalities Digital Skills, Digital Production Skills

Countries:

Global South, Developing Countries