ABSTRACT
The present chapter examines the digital divide in India using the case of the workforce in the information and communication technology (ICT) industry. It studies the digital divide in access and use of the Internet using a social inequality lens. Social inequality can be explained in multiple ways. The conflict perspective, which originated from Karl Marx, argues that the society is in a continuous friction between two groups over resources. The dominant group in terms of ownership of resources will tend to suppress the other group in order to maintain the status quo over the resources through all possible ways. The institutions in the society will be manipulated to maintain the dominance in a perpetual manner thus resulting in overall social inequality. The other suppressed group explores breaking this dominance with consequent reactions resulting in conflicts. The conflict will be constant, but the nature and form of resources will change. The resources rooted in economic capital can also morph into other forms of capital, like cultural or social (Bourdieu, 1986).
