Massimo Ragnedda
Digital Capital, Digital Inequalities, AI, and Digital Sustainability

My research examines how digital technologies reproduce and transform social inequalities. I focus on digital capital, digital inequalities, the digital divide, AI inequality, and digital sustainability, combining sociological theory with empirical research.

A central entry point to this work is the Digital Capital Index, which brings together the concept, its theoretical foundations, and its empirical applications.

A central argument in my work is that digital inequality cannot be reduced to access alone. Unequal outcomes emerge from the interaction between digital skills, resources, infrastructures, and social position. For this reason, my research connects digital capital to broader processes of social stratification and power.

More recent work extends this framework to artificial intelligence and environmental issues. I examine how AI systems generate new forms of inequality, how algorithmic power redistributes visibility and opportunity, and how digital practices intersect with environmental orientations through what I define as a digital-environmental habitus.

This website brings together my publications, research projects, and conceptual contributions to the study of digital inequality, AI, and digital society.

  • Digital capital – the accumulation of digital skills, competencies, and resources that can be converted into social advantage.
  • Digital inequalities – unequal access, skills, uses, and outcomes associated with digital technologies.
  • Digital divide – layered inequalities across access, use, and benefits in digital environments.
  • AI inequality – unequal distribution of power, visibility, risks, and opportunities shaped by artificial intelligence.
  • Digital sustainability – the relationship between digital practices, technologies, and environmentally responsible behavior.
  • Algorithmic power – the capacity of algorithms and platforms to structure visibility, decision-making, and social outcomes.
  • Digital-environmental habitus – the dispositions through which environmental orientations shape everyday digital practices.

Core Research Areas

My work develops an integrated framework connecting digital capital, digital inequalities, and AI inequality. Across different projects, I examine how digital resources, skills, and infrastructures shape unequal outcomes, how algorithmic systems redistribute visibility and opportunity, and how digital practices intersect with environmental orientations. This research contributes to debates in digital sociology, media and communication, and platform studies by providing conceptual tools to understand inequality in increasingly AI-mediated societies.

Selected Monographs

These monographs develop key concepts such as digital capital, digital inequalities, the digital divide, and AI inequality, providing theoretical and empirical foundations for understanding inequality in digital and AI-mediated societies.