Online Consumption and Inequality in Spain: Are New Forms of Fragmentation Emerging?

Digital consumption, particularly on consumer platforms, has seen major growth in recent years and has transformed consumer markets. However, little sociological research has been conducted that provides insight into how this process is unfolding. In the light of studies that have analysed the digital divide at different levels, we propose to analyse whether online consumption is a new factor for social fragmentation and inequality. A quantitative methodological strategy is used based on the “Survey on equipment and use of information and communication technologies in households” of the Spanish Institute of Statistics (Encuesta sobre equipamiento y uso de tecnologías de información y comunicación en los hogares, Instituto Nacional de Estadística). The results support the hypothesis that digital consumption creates new structures of social inequality, both in terms of access and internal differences between online consumers.