scholarly journals Comparing Digital Divides: Internet Access and Social Inequality in Canada and the United States

Author(s):  
Philip N. Howard ◽  
Laura Busch ◽  
Penelope Sheets

Abstract: What is the best way to measure and track the digital divide, in a comparative manner, over time? What impact have differing policy interventions had on the digital divide in Canada and the United States? We offer a way of benchmarking equality in Internet access using Gini coefficients and demonstrate that overall the digital divide has been closing in both countries. We find that in terms of income, the digital divide in Canada has closed most dramatically, and that in terms of education, the digital divide remains most pronounced in the United States. We suggest that Canada has been more successful in reducingthe concentration of Internet access among wealthy educated populations, in part due to the active role of the state in supporting the production of culturally relevant digital content.Résumé : Cette étude compare les représentations aux nouvelles des agences autochtones de bien-être de l'enfant avec celles d'autorités provinciales telles que le Ministry of Children and Family Development en Colombie-Britannique. La couverture médiatique d'incidents critiques impliquant des enfants sous la tutelle d'agences provinciales met généralement l'accent sur des problèmes systémiques tels que les coupures dans les programmes, le manque de ressources et les déficiences organisationnelles - des conditions sur lesquelles le travailleur social a peu de contrôle. En contraste, ces facteurs contextuels sont généralement absents des reportages sur les agences autochtones. La plupart des reportages et chroniques jettent plutôt le blâme sur le travailleur social et l'administrateur autochtones tout en mettant en question les compétences de l'intervenant autochtone en général. En revanche, les chroniques écrites par des autochtones soulèvent des questions structurelles et des facteurs contextuels qui sont absents des autres reportages.

Author(s):  
Pierre Rosanvallon

This chapter turns to the increasingly active role of constitutional courts. These courts have established themselves—not without reservations and challenges—as an essential vector of the push for greater reflexivity. For a long time the United States, India, and the German Federal Republic stood out as exceptions because of their traditional emphasis on judicial review. Now, however, constitutional courts of one sort or another are at the heart of democratic government everywhere. Indeed, some scholars go so far as to discern a veritable “resurrection” of constitutional thought. It is noteworthy that these new constitutional courts on the whole receive strong support from the public, as numerous comparative surveys have shown, and they count among the most legitimate of democratic institutions.


Author(s):  
Massimo Miglioretti ◽  
Francesca Mariani ◽  
Luca Vecchio

In recent decades, medical malpractice litigation experienced a large-scale expansion in the United States as well as in Europe, involving both medical and surgical specialties. Previous studies have investigated the reasons why patients decide to sue doctors for malpractice and highlighted that adverse outcome, negative communication with doctors and seeking compensation are among the major reasons for malpractice litigation. In this chapter, patient engagement is discussed as a possible method for reducing the risks of doctors being sued for medical malpractice. The results of a first qualitative study underline how an active role for patients and their engagement in the treatment definition and execution could be a way to limit the occurrence of malpractice litigations. However, a second study noted that in Italy, many patients are still struggling to become involved in the process of their care. The authors discuss the role of professional education in promoting patient engagement in Italy.


1973 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 409-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony King

III THE PATTERN EXPLAINED In part I of this paper we described the gross pattern of public policy in our five countries. In part II we looked at how the pattern developed in each of the countries. We noticed that the countries have pursued policies that diverge widely, at least with respect to the size of the direct operating role of the State in the provision of public services. We also noticed that the United States differs from the four other countries far more than they do from each other. These findings will not have come as a great surprise to anybody, although some readers may have been surprised – in view of the common assumption that all major western countries are ‘welfare states’ – to discover just how much the countries differ and what different histories they have had.


2013 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Richard M. Morse

This introductory paper examines some of the main questions raised by the papers presented to the urbanization symposium in Vancouver. Comparisons between the Latin American urban experience and that of the United States and Canada revealed basic contrasts in spite of some broad hemispheric similarities. Differences were particularly apparent in the residual influence of native society on later European settlement, in the role of the state versus private commerce in growth and development, and in the differing class structures.


2011 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacobus Delwaide

Massive government-financed rescue operations for banking and insurance industries in the United States and in Europe, seeking to contain the financial crisis that culminated in 2008, amounted to ‘the biggest, broadest and fastest government response in history.’1This ‘great stabilisation,’ asThe Economistcalled it, resulting in ‘quasi’ or ‘shadow nationalization,’2cast doubt on the notion, fashionable at the height of the neoliberal wave, that the state was essentially on its way out, as many of its tasks and responsibilities were oozing steadily and irreversibly toward the market. The state and, by the same token, the political seemed back – with a vengeance, triggering solemn announcements of ‘the return of the state’ and ‘the end of the ideology of public powerlessness.’3Observers concurred. ‘Free-market capitalism, globalization, and deregulation’ had been ‘rising across the globe for 30 years,’ yet that era now had ended: ‘Global economic and financial integration are reversing. The role of the state, together with financial and trade protectionism, is ascending.’4Triggering a perceived ‘paradigm shift towards a more European, a more social state,’ even in the United States and in China, the crisis was seen to herald a move ‘back towards a mixed economy.’5The question, meanwhile, remained: had the state indeed withdrawn as much during the neoliberal era as is often assumed?


2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 191
Author(s):  
Sumati Srinivas

Researchers and policy makers have identified the existence of a Digital Divide in the United States, between those who have access to the internet and technology in general, and those who do not. Most research into the relationship between the access to technology and labor market outcomes has revolved around on-the-job computer use and the extent to which it determines wages. Using a nationally representative dataset, this study looks instead at access to the internet at home prior to the Great Recession, and examines whether this is significantly related to job loss during the Great Recession. The results of this analysis indicate that internet access prior was a stronger predictor of job loss during the Great Recession than on-the-job computer use. With recent data that internet access levels in the United States may have plateaued for certain sections of the population, this finding has broad implications for both workers and employers, and lends urgency to the policy objective of expanding internet access.


2018 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Petersen ◽  
Carsten-Andreas Schulz

AbstractThere is a growing scholarly consensus that Latin American regionalism has entered a new phase. For some observers, the increasing complexity of regional cooperation initiatives renders collective action ineffective. For others, the creation of new schemes signals a “posthegemonic” moment that has opened a space for collaboration on social issues. Both camps attribute this shift to the absence of the United States and the presence of left-leaning governments. By contrast, this study demonstrates that this agenda is not new, nor has the United States impeded similar initiatives in the past. In fact, the United States was instrumental in expanding regional cooperation on social issues in the early twentieth century. Instead, this article argues that agenda shifts are best explained by an evolving consensus about the role of the state. The “new agenda” is in line with historical attempts by governments to use regionalism to bolster their own domestic reforms.


Author(s):  
Richard Groper

There seems to be a consensus among scholars and pundits that the lack of access to the Internet among African-Americans and Latinos has created a digital divide in the United States. The digital divide has negatively affected the ability of minority groups to accumulate social capital . This study compares Internet access rates in California and the United States in order to test the premise that race is the primary influence upon Internet access. In California, the data explicitly depicts a stronger relationship between Internet access and education and income than it does with Internet access and race.1 Across the United States, the results are not as stark. However, education and income are increasingly becoming important variables. The policy implications of this study are dramatic . Since most governmental and non-profit efforts in the United States have put resources and money into decreasing the racial divide, this study suggests that at least some of those resources should be shifted to alleviating the educational and economic discrepancies that exist among the American people.


2011 ◽  
pp. 291-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Groper

There seems to be a consensus among scholars and pundits that the lack of access to the Internet among African-Americans and Latinos has created a digital divide in the United States. The digital divide has negatively affected the ability of minority groups to accumulate social capital . This study compares Internet access rates in California and the United States in order to test the premise that race is the primary influence upon Internet access. In California, the data explicitly depicts a stronger relationship between Internet access and education and income than it does with Internet access and race.1 Across the United States, the results are not as stark. However, education and income are increasingly becoming important variables. The policy implications of this study are dramatic . Since most governmental and non-profit efforts in the United States have put resources and money into decreasing the racial divide, this study suggests that at least some of those resources should be shifted to alleviating the educational and economic discrepancies that exist among the American people.


Author(s):  
Joseph W. Pearson ◽  
Dick Gilbreath

This book is about politics, exploring the general outlook of a group of Americans called Whigs. The Whigs were one of the two great political parties in the United States between the years 1834 and 1856, battling their opponents the Jacksonian Democrats for offices, prestige, and power. This book explores how Whiggish Americans understood human nature, society, and the role of the state, and explains how they reflected on the past and anticipated the future. A Whig worldview resonated with a vast array of future-looking people in large cities and small villages, in factories and on farms, and in the varied state houses across the country, as well as the in halls of Congress. The Whig Promise attracted those Americans seeking middle-class achievement, community, and meaning through collaborative effort and self-control in a world growing more and more impersonal.


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