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The paper represents research proposals aimed at revealing core social trends connected with digital transformation in the world and the USA in particular. Key threats for society are mentioned, including digital divide, and methodology is proposed to deepen the current knowledge and understanding of social implications of digital transformation in the USA, based on empirical research tools.
Today, digital technologies and network effects represent an integral part of the socio-economic, political, and cultural life of all subjects of the world economic system and the basis of social progress in general. Most countries in the world are on the verge of the next technological revolution, the birth of a new civilization, which is characterized by the key role of knowledge, science, technology, and information in all spheres of life.
Undoubtedly, the key advantages of the digital economy include the increase in labor productivity under the influence of the introduction of disruptive technologies and a total modernization of production and management processes. It also implies a decrease in transaction costs as a result of an increase in the availability of information and minimizing its asymmetry, the creation of new jobs, an improvement in the quality of life of the population, due to additional network opportunities for access to the consumption of goods. There is reduction of bureaucracy level and increases of the administrative resources transparency. Information is becoming the most important factor of production, gradually displacing and changing the nature of the use of traditional factors of production (labor, land, capital) (Larsson & Teigland, 2019). However, it is worth noting the special nature of the aggravation of the contradictions between the development of modern society and the digital economy. Thus, Castells notes that modern global information networks cannot understand and respect the historically formed values of various communities, which gives rise to instability in the world, an escalation of fundamentalist sentiments (Metallo et al., 2020). This is due to the emergence of new specific social implications of digital transformation, which requires in-depth interdisciplinary analysis and forecasting of relevant trends.
Literature Review
It is necessary to take into account the fact that in modern conditions social stability and, as a result, national security and competitiveness of the country will depend on the flexibility of public management and the speed of reaction to changes caused by the impact of new technologies. In this regard, it is worth turning to the existing experience of digital transformation and the role of the state in these processes, including in resolving social contradictions. Manifestations of such contradictions include the following (United States Congress & United States House of Representatives, 2018):
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Growing social injustice (increased income inequality, reduction of social programs and commercialization of the social sphere, increase in the retirement age);
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Aggravation of digital inequality, digital divide due to asymmetry of access to information resources which leads to even greater differentiation into rich and poor , digital exclusion;
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Increasing social exclusion, that is, exclusion of people who have the least importance and value for the capital of the network due to the lack of network and digital competencies, education, etc.;
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Violation of the principles of collective labor protection (precarious employment, shadow forms of labor activity, a decrease in the role of trade unions, etc.), which leads to a decrease in real incomes of the population and welfare in general, marginalization of society.
The first state program for the development of digital technologies, Digital Economy Agenda, was adopted in 2015. It includes four blocks that provide key opportunities for the country: promotion of a free and open Internet; ensuring trust and security in the network; free access to the network and the possibility of acquiring professional skills for everyone; promoting innovation and a new generation of disruptive technologies (United States Congress & United States House of Representatives, 2018). However, while US policy is aimed at developing the digital economy, increasing the share of industries involved in it, providing all-round support to entrepreneurs engaged in the IT industry, the social effects of digital transformation, in particular, bridging the digital divide, are not given due attention.
Digital transformation is a far from ambiguous paradigm of social development; with all its positive effects, it is necessary to be able to predict, identify, and manage negative trends, challenges, and threats. In particular, the knowledge economy, in addition to traditional economic factors such as labor, capital and land, includes such a factor as knowledge. Knowledge begins to take a leading position among other economic variables in the process of creating a companys competitive advantage and shaping the value of product, service, and labor force. Digitalization will fundamentally change the economic and innovation landscape. It is projected that by 2035, 95% of production processes will be automated, and 50-70% of jobs will cease to exist (Deloitte, 2019). The widening gap between the level of economic and technological development of different countries, as well as different groups of the population within one country depends not only on the level of economic well-being, but also on the ability to actively participate in the process of digitization. This will lead to an even greater increase in social inequality, which is already characterized by quite menacing scale. However, despite the severity of the above-described problems, at present, fundamental research in this area is not carried out using interdisciplinary approaches. Most of the available publications are of the nature of articles in business publications, reports of consulting companies or government regulators and NGOs, as well as various practical recommendations and White Papers, which are not supported by a sufficient scientific base. The foregoing determines the exceptional need for understanding the processes of digital transformation of society within the framework of sociological science, using its tools, in particular, empirical research.
Methodology
The research philosophy is a constructivist paradigm in social science. Within the framework of post-non-classical philosophy, a variety of which is also the methodology of constructivism, the product of cognition (concepts, theories, models) is influenced by the characteristics of not only the object, but also the subject of cognition (with its culture, value-motivational sphere and language of description), as well as the specifics of cognitive tools. Constructivists argue that the foundations of our knowledge should be sought not in the objective world, but in the language, culture, social relations, norms and conventions adopted in a particular community (Denicolo et al., 2016). From a constructivist point of view, we do not just passively or actively reflect the world, but we build or construct it through language and cultural systems in this case, network and digital language and digital cultures.
The research seeks to undertake a qualitative approach using sample case studies that collect the relevant data and create a consensus through analyses to draw key conclusions and provide theoretical understanding, as well as semi-structured interviews with subsequent processing using grounded theory tools coding and formulation of corresponding theory. The methodology of case studies was chosen due to the fact that the application of this method allows revealing many latent problems that have destabilized social, political, economic and other processes. Semi-structured interviews also provide in-depth understanding of the issues under consideration, enabling respondents to express their opinion in freely manner, add information that they consider necessary and important, and so on. The sample of respondents (30 participants) will consist of representatives of the US state regulatory bodies and NGOs, social workers, employers, and employees engaged in both IT-skilled and non-IT skilled jobs.
Results
The expected results of the proposed study represent an array of conclusions about the current state of digital divide in American society, with breakdown by the population layers and social background, the influence of digitalization on social mobility, and the position and prospects of disadvantaged groups of population. It will be shown that STEM education is the key to popularizing and mastering the skills of using digital tools that will be in demand in professions of the near future.
In the modern scientific lexicon, such concepts as information poverty, information inequality, information security, information crime, information diseases have appeared, emphasizing that the new conditions of people existence in the information society and the new opportunities that they have in this society, are also accompanied by new problems that await them. The proposed research will allow in-depth understanding of these new notions, outlining potential ways to overcome accompanying contradictions taking place in American society, based on the constructivist paradigm, with the use of conflict theory elements.
Discussion
It is obvious that there is a need to search for an optimal model of a digital state that would combine the dynamism of digital transformation, humanization and social orientation of the economy, strengthening the network interaction of the population, state and business. In this regard, the understanding and perception of the long-term benefits of using digital technologies is of prime importance by citizens. Achieving this understanding drives the demand for digital mastery and digital literacy. Overcoming the negative consequences of digital transformation for social development is a joint task for society and the state, the solution of which is one of the keys to a prosperous future of the country. The main goal of the proposed study will be to develop key areas of interaction between the state and society, in particular, based on the model of public-private partnership, to overcome the social contradictions of digital transformation.
References
Deloitte (2019). Digital transformation: Bridging the new digital divide. Web.
Denicolo, P., Long, T., & Bradley-Cole, K. (2016). Constructivist approaches and research methods: a practical guide to exploring personal meanings. SAGE Publications.
Larsson, A., & Teigland, R. (2019). Digital transformation and public services: Societal impacts in Sweden and beyond. Routledge.
Metallo, C., Ferrara, M., Lazazzara, A., Za, S. (Eds.) (2020). Digital transformation and human behavior: Innovation for people and organisations. Springer.
United States Congress & United States House of Representatives (2018). The digital divide : bridging the technology gap. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
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