Hubert Guillaud, on InternetActu, comes back, through an interview with Dominique Pasquier, author of "L' internet des familles modestes" (The Internet of modest families), on the specific logics and practices of the uses and practices of the Internet in the working classes.

Dominique Pasquier: It has no particular characteristics. It is a use like any other, with a few pockets of specificity, and that is what is most surprising. Among these specificities - which would have to be validated by further investigation of families with more income and cultural capital - there is the refusal to use e-mail or the obligation of transparency of practices between family members, but which perhaps exist in one form or another in other social environments. The most surprising thing, finally, is to notice that for people who equipped themselves late in life, how easy and ritualistic these uses have become. I expected to find more difficulties, more anxiety... But that was not the case. Modest families have taken hold of the Internet at full speed. They certainly make rather utilitarian uses of these polymorphic tools. They have few creative practices. They participate little. But they don't particularly need it. The tool has crept into their daily practices, in a very pragmatic way. People have good reasons for doing what they do the way they do it.

Dominique Pasquier: Yes, the Internet is a second school. And this observation is not without virtues for populations that very often did not go to school or that do not have a high school diploma. The Internet offers them ways of learning that correspond better to them, without hierarchy or sanction. One might think, for example, that when it comes to information they are not looking for important things, but they are. They seek to understand the terms used by their children's teacher or the doctor they consult. Something has opened up. The challenge for them is not to become experts instead of experts, but to be able to argue better or ask questions. To be better armed. The work of sociologist Annette Lareau, who observed parent-teacher meetings and medical consultations in working-class areas, showed that working-class parents were in a position of deference, imposed by the interaction itself. They do not dare say that they do not understand. However, this deference implies a number of misunderstandings about school or medical diagnoses. People I have met use these tools all the time to find the meaning of words or to learn. Caregivers often work in very heavy structures. But when they go to health professional websites, they see that there are horizontal and hierarchical exchanges possible. The Internet allows them to open their mouths - although that doesn't mean that these caregivers open their mouths online easily.