The Digital Divide And Wealth Gap

The 90s of the 20th century is often seen as a new demarcation point of the development of human society. Many scholars believe that since then human beings have entered into the era of knowledge-economy which is also known as the Information Age. The popularity of personal computers and network not only changed mode of production but also greatly changed people's life styles. However, as every new technology brings new political, economic and cultural problems, wide application of digital technology will bring inequalities and new social differentiation while it gives us benefits. In recent years, digital divide appears and expands wealth gap in domestic and international societies. Therefore, although the appearance of digital divide just started, it has been a matter of social concern.Since the 90s of the 20th century, the most important change of international politics and economic structure is the rapid development and wide promotion of globalization. One of the influences of globalization is the expansion of wealth gap. The wealth gap is not a problem which appeared in contemporary society. It is an important issue that people have to face in the process of human society development. Ever since human society entered in class society, the wealth gap has been an objective existence. If the wealth gap of society is very prominent and not received attention, it is bound to greatly impact the stability and development of society. Therefore, we need to pay attention to the existence and impact of wealth gap issue rationally. The digital divide and wealth gap in the age of globalization have causal connection that the digital divide and wealth gap is closely related. However, the paper is aimed at discussing the wealth gap issue caused by digital divide.This paper uses analytic hierarchy process(AHP) and comparative analysis as the main research methods. The main framework of the paper is divided to five parts. The first part is an introduction which includes the origin and significance of the research, the achievement and current status of the research and the framework and methods of the research. The second part gives a brief description of the background, definition, influence, causes and development of digital divide, and analyzes the influence of digital divide to international politics and international relations. The third part is the main part of the whole paper which introduce the primary reasons of the appearance of digital divide and wealth gap with related examples. In order to understand the causes of wealth gap caused by digital divide, the paper analyzes the economic disciplines followed by digital divide, the influence of digital divide to economic growth and the main developing characteristics of Information Age. It also uses domestic and international examples of digital divide and expansion of wealth gap to help us get perceptual and rational understanding of the digital divide and wealth gap issues. The fourth part introduces some countermeasures, based on the overall analysis of the digital divide and wealth gap issues, it gives further analysis of the issues and relevant recommendations. In the fifth part, the conclusion summarizes the whole contents of the paper. It is believed that the existence of the digital divide and the wealth gap caused by it are optimistic. The agent of production like figures, information and knowledge in Information Age are not as exclusive as natural resource in agricultural and industrial age which means that the digital divide not only has negative effect. If it is well used, the digital divide will turn to digital opportunity and digital bridge. It can not only be eliminated but also become an important opportunity to national information construction and development. Finally, the paper takes an outlook to the elimination and prospect of digital divide in domestic and international society in the future.