Digitalization of economic life and social stratification in Ukraine: features of the relationship

The article analyzes the mutual influence of digitalization on economic life and social stratification in Ukraine. The potential of social stratification theories in explaining digital inequalities is clarified. Based on data from a 2024 monitoring study by the Institute of Sociology of the NAS of Ukraine, the indicator of the use of digital tools in the workplace was analyzed in relation to the financial situation, employment status, self-assessment of status position, and objective class affiliation. The results of the analysis, obtained using the explanatory capabilities of classical theories of social stratification, indicate the existence of several trends. The Marxist approach came true in cases where digitalization in the workplace is more widespread among the employed population with the lowest level of material deprivation, among the self-employed, and among representatives of the class of small and medium-sized owners. The fact that skilled workers are more active in using digital devices and technologies than those in routine non-physical work is quite close to functionalist explanations of digital inequality when different demands on the labor market regulate and select the necessary people with the appropriate skills. Despite the dependence of digitalization on the level of financial situation and subjective social status, slightly less use of digital tools was recorded among the wealthiest respondents compared to the rich, and among those who placed themselves on the highest rungs compared to those who placed themselves in the middle. This phenomenon is explained by the Weberian interpretation, according to which according to which the prestige of being at the highest levels of the social hierarchy lies not so much in possessing the digital qualifications as, as in exercising the power.