The Media, Inequality & Change Center (@miccenter.bsky.social)

The Dialectic of Broadband | Canadian Journal of Communication Background: Through a critical self-reflection of political economic research studying broadband access and digital equity among marginalized communities, this article complicates the technological fetishism inherent in uncritically praising capitalist expansions into the home. Analysis: Grounded in a critique of capitalist reproduction, this contradiction is contextualized as a false dichotomy rooted in naturalized capitalist logics that appear “inherent” in digital spaces. The process of this naturalization is critically examined, particularly in spaces where scholarly work intersects with the policy realm. Conclusions and implications: This article challenges the notions of praxis that perpetuate conformity to specific epistemological and methodological perspectives within policy spaces and encourages the adoption of praxis through a dialectical relation to theory. https://doi.org/10.3138/cjc-2024-0023