Technological Stratification

Technological stratification is the process by which access to and control over technology becomes distributed along existing social hierarchies of class, race, gender, and geography. Unlike the digital divide, which is often framed as a binary gap, stratification describes a continuous gradient of differential access, skills, and outcomes. It is a structural feature of complex systems in which information asymmetry and platform capitalism reinforce one another, producing technological hegemony that concentrates the power to shape innovation in the hands of a few.