Digital Access, Digital Skills, and Academic Success: Rethinking Digital Capital in Higher Education
Date of Award
Spring 3-31-2025
Document Type
Honors Thesis
Department/Major
Sociology
First Advisor
Louisa Roberts
Second Advisor
Isaiah Cohen
Third Advisor
Gabrielle Strouse
Keywords
digital capital, digital inequality, cultural capital, academic achievement, sociology of education, social reproduction, higher education, educational inequality, community college, field theory
Subject Categories
Educational Sociology | Sociology
Abstract
Recent scholarship has suggested that “digital capital” (DC), encompassing digital access and competency, may play a critical role in processes of social reproduction. However, there has been limited scholarship exploring this concept’s empirical utility. Especially within higher education, where increasing digitalization may exacerbate inequality by disadvantaging students with low DC. Using a survey of 239 students at two institutions of higher education in the Midwest, this study examines the usefulness of the DC concept for understanding unequal educational outcomes in the contemporary university context. This study is among the first to empirically investigate the relationship between sociodemographic factors, DC accumulation, and academic outcomes in higher education. Results suggest that the digital capital index (DCI) demonstrates internal consistency and varies across students. Higher levels of DC are predicted, in particular, by student type, amount of higher education completed, and racial or ethnic background. However, DC does not significantly predict student GPA, raising questions about its broader impact on outcomes and inequality. The thesis concludes by exploring whether digital capital exhibits diminishing returns in higher education or whether its effects are mediated by cultural capital, which may be more directly tied to navigating academic environments and securing outcomes.
Recommended Citation
Boon, Nicholas, "Digital Access, Digital Skills, and Academic Success: Rethinking Digital Capital in Higher Education" (2025). Honors Thesis. 353.
https://red.library.usd.edu/honors-thesis/353