DIGITAL DIVIDE, DIGITAL CAPITAL, DIGITAL INCLUSION: DYNAMICS OF THEORETICAL APPROACHES AND POLITICAL DECISIONS

This paper examines the key theoretical approaches to studying the problem of the digital divide in foreign and Russian interdisciplinary research. Special attention is given to the transition from viewing the digital divide in terms of access to technological infrastructure to understanding it as a complex social problem. The authors consider three levels of the digital divide model (access, skills and benefits from using digital technologies), analyze the role of legal regulation in the capacity of Russian society to overcome this problem. They draw a conclusion about the importance to understand the digital divide as a complex issue, with regard to specifics of digital capital, digital inclusion and other phenomena on the national and global scale.