Conference Agenda

We explore the changing dynamics of social exclusion in Europe across different age groups, comparing the periods before and during the pandemic. The investigation is driven by the hypothesis that the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the vulnerability of older individuals to social exclusion in several domains. We argue that, in an increasingly digitized world, digital exclusion is a critical dimension of social exclusion and therefore we include this component in our analysis.

The primary data source of the paper is the European Social Survey (ESS) microdata, Rounds 9 (2018) and 10 (2020), which includes approximately 22,000 observations from 12 European countries. We create an aggregate measure of social exclusion using a formative approach. The results reveal that social exclusion is higher among older persons and, in particular, within the 75+ age group. Digital exclusion of older people is considerably higher in the older groups, particularly for women, but it decreased during the pandemic period. Exclusion from social relations also worsens significantly with age and it was the social exclusion domain most severely affected during the pandemic..

Remote work has traditionally been aimed at improving the reconciliation of personal and family life and thus contributing to reducing the stress produced by work in families. With the acceleration of digitalization and the increase in teleworking driven by the pandemic, its contribution to improving work-life balance has been called into question.

Our research analyses data from wave 10 of the European Social Survey (2020-2022) to identify the factors contributing to the job-family stress in some key european countries such as Germany, Poland, Spain, and Sweden.

The social, political, and economic reality of these countries analysed is very diverse. However, a significant effect on the increase of the job-family stress was found form the economic situation of the household, as well as form working overtime, or being responsive outside working hours.

The main element reducing the job-family stress effect is the potential contribution of the direct line manager in facilitating work-life balance. The effect of deciding how daily work is organised (autonomy), deciding the hour of starting or finishing work (flexibility) or remote work is more modest.

Work-to-family spillover occurs when the demands of employment encroach on the separate domain of the family. Intrusions range from a job task carried over from the workplace or normal working hours to the cumulative emotional labor from reflections on work anticipated or experienced. Family can, of course, spill over into work. Positive benefits of work-to-family spillover have also been recognized, but the challenge of maintaining and managing boundaries between two, often incompatible, spheres of life is a major theme of work-family research.

Despite growing evidence of increased work-to-family spillover during the COVID-19 pandemic, relatively less attention has been paid to the digital demands and resources shaping these blurred boundaries. Theories of boundary work, which reflect the practices and processes people use to create and maintain separate spheres of work and family life, are useful for understanding how digital technologies may shape spillover. On one hand, digital social contact (e.g., emails, texts, and video calls) may create boundary permeability. In turn, the demands of digital contacts may exacerbate negative work-to-family spillover. On the other hand, digital technologies may act as resources for individuals to successfully manage the increasingly blurred boundaries of work and family domains. Technology-enabled remote working arrangements may facilitate greater flexibility and control over geographic and temporal boundaries. At the same time, digital skills have emerged as potential cultural capital for successfully managing work and family life. Empirically, however, few studies have tested these aspects of digital boundary work.

In this paper, we use newly available data from Round 10 (2020/2021) of the European Social Survey (ESS) of 31 countries, to examine how digital technologies—including digital social contact, remote work, and digital skills—influenced work-to-family spillover during COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on theories of boundary work, hierarchical linear regressions show that the demands of digital work contact (e.g., email, texts, or video calls with colleagues or managers) exacerbated negative work-to-family spillover. In comparison, digital family contact is neither a demand nor a resource associated with spillover. Considering digital resources, we also find that after adjusting for work and family characteristics, workplace flexibility reduced negative work-to-family spillover for women, but not for men. Finally, consistent with theorizing on digital cultural capital, we show how digital skills serve as an important resource to mitigate negative work-to-family spillover in Europe.

In doing so, we contribute to the literature on digital technologies and boundary management in three ways: first, by examining both work-related and family-related digital contact, we explore how different digital social contacts shape the boundary permeability of work and family life; second, by accounting for workplace flexibility, we attend to the inconsistencies presented in the literature on boundary flexibility and spillover; and third, by examining digital skill as a boundary management resource, we provide one of the first empirical tests of the relationship between digital cultural capital and work-to-family spillover. Given that work-to-family spillover is a stressor that is linked to poor health and family well-being, results provide important insights into the potential of digital technologies to shape inequalities among families.

The dissemination of digital media has transformed the landscape of news consumption, yet a segment of the population remains detached from this paradigm shift. Employing European Social Survey data, this paper examines the sociodemographic profiles of internet non-users in Portugal, through a longitudinal analysis from 2003 to 2022, while also assessing if not using the internet results in inequalities in news consumption.

In the early 2000s, digital divide studies primarily focused on access to technology, but as internet penetration deepened, scholars highlighted the nuances of digital inequalities, considering factors such as usage. Van Deursen & van Dijk (2014) found that people with low levels of education and other disadvantages were using the Internet for more hours a day. We explore the characteristics of non-users, investigating if current demographics align with or diverge from earlier profiles. Research indicates that socioeconomic status, education, age, and gender remain significant predictors of internet use (Hargittai, 2010; Buhi et al, 2016) but as the reach of internet increases in terms of usage, it is relevant to consider the characteristics of persisting non-user profiles.

Our study revisits this second level digital divide to understand the current state of digital exclusion in Internet use in Portugal. A significant decrease in the percentage of individuals not using the internet for news access is evident, declining from 70% in 2003 to 29% in 2022. This reduction mirrors advancements in digital accessibility; however, the considerable percentage of non-users in 2022 prompts an investigation into enduring digital inequalities.

Our methodology employs quantitative analysis to delineate the contours of these sociodemographic variables. We compare our findings with other studies on the digital divide in Portugal (Lapa & Vieira, 2019; Lapa et al. 2023), and update the discourse on civic engagement and exclusion by accessing if not using the internet results in less time allocated to news consumption.

Preliminary results suggest that digital inequalities in Portugal have evolved, and that the digital divide has morphed into a 'digital inequality', where the focus shifts to the quality of use. This evolution is critical in understanding the implications for informed citizenship and democratic engagement in a media and contentsaturated society. Furthermore, not only there is evidence to support the idea that negative behavioral patterns in news consumption, such as loss of interest or active news avoidance, are more pronounced among the poorer and the less educated (Cardoso et al., 2022).

The implications of these trends are significant for policymakers and educators. With the evolving demographics of internet non-users, targeted interventions are needed to address the multifaceted nature of digital exclusion. The paper concludes with a call for nuanced media literacy programs and inclusive technology policies that cater to the specific needs of diverse populations (Mihailidis, 2018).

In sum, this study contributes a temporal and sociodemographic perspective to the discourse on digital inequalities in Portugal, highlighting the evolution of non-use and its implications for democratic participation and information equity.

Focusing on the European Social Survey round 10 (2020-2022), we analyze the different forms of contact between parents aged 60 or older and their children. In detail, we aim at disentangling the substitution and cumulation effects of digital and traditional contacts between children and older parents. Results show that frequent face-to-face contacts are still the predominant form of contact between parents and children. Further, we find evidence of cumulation between traditional contacts (e.g., face-to-face and telephone) and digital contacts (e.g., video and texting) in most of the countries. On the other hand, we find evidence of substitution effects between face-to-face and digital contacts only in some of the countries considered in the analysis. Moreover, while emotional proximity underlies all forms of contact, geographical proximity mostly determines face-to-face interactions. As far as digital skills are concerned, these are positively associated with digital contacts. Finally, the study suggests that it is essential to enhance digital inclusion among older people by highlighting the role of digital literacy in maintaining family ties.