The self-reinforcing effect of digital and social exclusion: The inequality loop

•The research sheds light onto the gradual process of digital inclusion by creating a typology with three different types of people according to their level of digital inclusion, namely Advanced, Intermediate and Basic.•Our analysis shows the self-reinforcing effect of digital and social exclusion, by highlighting how, despite their access to the Internet, those people at risk of social exclusion are more likely to lack the digital experience necessary to fully exploit the possibilities the Internet can offer.•Those who tend to obtain more benefits from the use of the Internet are, on average, young, well-educated and with a higher income, thus reinforcing their already privileged social positions.•Socially vulnerable people have more difficulties in using digital technologies and gaining benefits from them, leading to further marginalisation of their position and deepening of inequalities.•By highlighting how different levels of digital inclusion are related to socioeconomic and sociodemographic features, this research contributes to reinforcing the idea that offline social structures and practices influence individuals’ ability to use digital technologies as an empowering tool of social inclusion. Since an increasing number of daily activities are carried out online, an exclusion or limited access to the Internet prevent citizens from entering a world full of opportunities that cannot be accessed otherwise; in this sense, inclusion in the digital realm is strictly connected to social inclusion. Digital inclusion is not conceived as a mere dichotomy, access versus no access, but in terms of the degree to which e-inclusion improve wellbeing for individuals, community and society. Using a quantitative method based on a multivariate analysis, multiple correspondence analysis and cluster analysis, applied to a representative sample of UK citizens, this article sheds light onto the gradual process of digital inclusion, highlighting how social and digital inclusion are intertwined and how people who have one or more social or economic vulnerabilities are more likely to be in the group of those who are digitally excluded.