Information inequality in contemporary Chinese urban society: The results of a cluster analysis
Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology
Published online on June 01, 2015
Abstract
Having reflected on the theoretical tradition of previous information inequality research that treats society's information rich/poor as identical with its socioeconomic rich/poor, this study examines the informational structure of contemporary Chinese urban society through a cluster analysis of a sample of 3,361 urban residents measured by a holistic informational measurement developed around the concept of “an individual's information world.” It finds that, first, 4 groups, instead of a binary “haves versus have‐nots,” best characterize Chinese urban society informationally; second, the distribution of people among these groups conforms to normal distribution, in striking contrast with the pyramid‐shaped socioeconomic structure of Chinese society; third, although the demographic characteristics of these groups suggest a significant correlation between people's informational and socioeconomic statuses, the 2 are far from identical; fourth, although the 4 groups differ in all aspects investigated, they differ most notably in information assets and the range and type of materials they choose as their regular information resources; fifth, although the 4 groups vary significantly, each differs from the others in its own way. This study concludes that society's informational and socioeconomic structures are 2 related but distinctive structures, and that the informational structure is characterized by highly complicated textures of inequality.