Youth, inequalities and ICT. A qualitative study of youth paths to the incorporation of computer and Internet in the frame of the Plan Conectar Igualdad in La Plata and Gran La Plata

by Dr. Héctor Sebastián Benítez Larghi (Argentina)

Professor in the Department of Sociology at Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata. He is Assistant Researcher at Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONICET). He is the author of 4 chapters in scholarly books and many articles and papers in fields of Sociology of Culture and Social Studies of ICT Appropriation. Some of his works are: “La vuelta al mundo en ochenta bytes” in Wortman, A. (comp.) Imágenes Publicitarias/Nuevos Burgueses (Buenos Aires, Prometeo, 2004); “Un piquete a la brecha digital” in Revista Argumentos, N° 9, (Buenos Aires, 2008); “Una cultura trasnochada. Los usos culturales de los sectores movilizados de la clase media argentina a partir de diciembre de 2001” in Wortman A. (comp.), Entre la política y la gestión de la cultura y del arte. Voluntades de clases medias en acción (Buenos Aires, Eudeba, 2009), “Internet y la computadora como estrategias de inclusión social entre los sectores populares. Imaginarios y prácticas desde la exclusión.” with Rosalía Winocur Iparraguirre in Revista Comunicação & Inovação de la Universidade Municipal de São Caetano do Sul, N° 20. (San Pablo, 2010) y “TIC, democracia y sectores populares” in Revista Andamios, Volumen7, N° 14 de la Universidad Autónoma de la Ciudad de México (México, 2010).

 

Abstract The study focuses on the influence of inequalities (social, economic, cultural, gender) in the ICT appropriation experience by young students. The research proposes a comparison between the technological trajectories of popular and middle class youth from two urban places in La Plata and Gran La Plata. With a qualitative approach (life stories) the study will contribute to the evaluation of the implementation social conditions of the Programa Conectar Igualdad as public policy that tends to reduce digital divides. 

His research outline is available here.

 

Collaborator Dr. Roxana Barrantes