Document details

Mirrored Spaces: Social Inequality in the Digital Age

Wiesbaden: Palgrave Macmillan (2024), xvii, 166 pp.

Contains illustrations, bibliogr. pp. 153-166

Series: Geographies of Media

ISBN 978-3-658-42793-1 (ebook); 978-3-658-42792-4 (print)

CC BY

"Contrary to the prevailing narratives of "digital empowerment" and opportunities for every individual, this book argues that digitalisation massively curtails social advancement opportunities, consolidating existing social relations. From a spatial perspective, Scheffer demonstrates how socially disadvantaged groups are faced with reproducing mechanisms as part of a new data economy. Surprisingly, the more intensively digital services are used, the more this happens. Building on Löw´s sociology of space and Bourdieu´s concept of habitus, this book shows how practices of social exclusion are transferred to the digital present in an innovative way. The image of "mirrored" spaces describes a new mechanism that explains social exclusion in the age of digitalization." (Publisher description)
1 Introduction: Technological Competence and Social Change in a Spatial Perspective, 1
2 Stratification, Socialisation and Space, 9
3 Digital and Digitized Space as an Opportunity for Advancement, 53
4 Data-Based Utilisation Contexts, 79
5 Decontextualized Data and Socio-Spatial Differences, 105
6 Recursive Spaces: Conclusion and Outlook, 139