Abstract:

In contemporary society， with the development of the information technology and the rising essentiality in the information itself， Internetbased electronic information systems have penetrated every field of our world. These systems have produced a new range of information in the industry， economy， and communities， affecting people’s social lives. From the perspective of social stratification， this paper， via analyzing the dual “modernismpostmodernism，” theoretically explains the “digital divide” phenomenon resulting from information and information technology， discusses whether it is “stratifying” or “destratifying，” and finally， gives an empirical analysis of the “digital divide” in the highly informationalized Japanese society. Obviously， information with its technology has already become a new variable and， in its close relation to social strata， is now rebuilding the mechanism of social stratification.

Key words: digital divide, modernism-postmodernism, stratification-destratification