Virtual Inequality: Beyond the Digital Divide. By Karen
Mossberger, Caroline J. Tolbert, and Mary Stansbury. Washington, DC:
Georgetown University Press, 2003. 208p. $19.95.
Whether or not certain demographic groups within society have
sufficient access to information and communication technology (ICT) has
become a major subject of debate. So-called digital divides have been
examined in regard to many demographic categories, such as race,
gender, socioeconomic status, and even the level of urbanization. Most
empirical efforts to examine issues of technological inequities within
the United States have been primarily descriptive in nature and
theoretically limited in scope. Virtual Inequality: Beyond the
Digital Divide adds a valuable contribution to the debate by
examining not only who has access to ICT but also to what extent they
have sufficient skills to truly make use of such technologies and the
information that they potentially provide.