Internet behavior and social stratification in a single-industry town: overcoming or perpetuating inequality?

The paper analyzes the use of the Internet by various property groups of a Russian single-industry town. According to the criterion of correlation of income with the subsistence minimum, five property groups are identified, and for each a description of socio-demographic characteristics and survival strategies is presented. Based on the concept of three levels of the digital divide, the relationship between economic and digital capital is studied. Conclusions and results were obtained on the basis of statistical data collected during a survey of 500 households in the town of Pavlovo, Nizhny Novgorod region, representing the model of a Russian single-industry town. The analysis reveals that the hypothesis of a strong correlation between social inequality and the digital divide is confirmed: the higher the level of material well-being of a family, the higher the level of its digital capital. At the same time, a characteristic feature of single-industry towns is a reduced level of material and property stratification between the allocated groups, due to the low resource content of the territory as a whole. The novelty of the study lies in obtaining results that characterize the relationship between the material security of the family and the level of its digital capital in a single-industry town. In this regard, the problems and prospects for the design and implementation of various programs aimed at reducing the digital divide in single-industry towns are identified. The results of the study can contribute to the improvement of the social management system and the implementation of the state social policy objectives in the accumulation of digital capital of various social groups of residents of single-industry towns as one of the factors for overcoming territorial socio-economic and cultural inequality in Russian society.