ABSTRACT
Digital divides have been examined from a relatively narrow range of theoretical frameworks. As digital divides are forms of stratification, it is surprising that the wealth of sociological perspectives on inequality have to date been poorly applied. This chapter outlines a framework for a sociology of information, as formulated by Marx and Muschert. It offers ideas for applying Marx and Muschert's sociology of information, rooted in Simmel, as a point of departure for defining information as something of value and as a medium of exchange. The Philosophy of Money was an analysis of the social implications of the rise of money as the predominant medium used in economic exchange and of the social characteristics of money. Turner and Beeghley provide some principles related to the effect of exchange of money in social life. Information is an object of value whose flows are similar to that of money, and the control of information, like money, acts as a stratification resource.
