The role of classic and modern concepts for the analysis of the digital divide factors

Based on the concept of explicit and latent potential of historical and sociological heritage for the study of modern types and forms of social inequality manifestation, the article examines the importance of ideas and theories developed by sociologists to identify the essence of the digital divide and its determinants. The article substantiates the author's position that the approaches to the analysis of digital divide that are developing in modern sociology are based on theories and ideas presented in the classic and post-classic sociological heritage. The article provides the application of the main ideas of the formation and reproduction of social inequality by O. Comte (formation of categories of the patriciate and proletariat in society), K. Marx (influence of economic factors on reproduction of social inequality), G. Simmel (phenomenon of alienation in society), M. Weber (influence of social status on social inequality in society), E. Durkheim (influence of demographic factors on reproduction of social inequality), P. Bourdieu (formation of an aggregate of an individual's capital as a factor of social inequality) and E. Giddens (influence of innovations, including information technologies, on the formation of social inequality) in the works of both foreign and Russian researchers devoted to the study of factors that determine the digital divide. In addition, the paper provides a classification of the considered concepts of social inequality and structuralizes ideas about the digital divide factors in accordance with the logic of this classification. The authors conclude that the sociological heritage contains both explicit and latent potential for understanding the phenomenon of digital divide.