Digital Justice and the Socio-Economic Fabric: Localized Equity Practices Versus Global Techno-Governance
A special issue of Societies (ISSN 2075-4698).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 February 2026 | Viewed by 5
Special Issue Editors
Interests: public administration; public policy; data analysis; statistics; law
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: law; public administration; administration of justice; public policy; justice systems; digital justice
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: economics; public administration; delegation to independent agencies; regulation and regulatory capture
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Contemporary societies find themselves at a critical juncture where digital technologies fundamentally reshape the landscape of justice, equity, and socio-economic relations. This transformation has created unprecedented tensions between localized efforts to promote digital equity and the increasingly dominant paradigms of global techno-governance, generating complex challenges for both practitioners and scholars seeking to understand and navigate this evolving terrain.
Digital justice emerges as a critical framework for examining how technological systems either perpetuate or dismantle existing inequalities within the socio-economic fabric of communities. This concept encompasses not merely access to digital tools, but the broader questions of who controls digital infrastructure, how algorithmic decision-making affects marginalized populations, and whether technological solutions can meaningfully address systemic inequities. At its core, digital justice represents an extension of social justice principles into the digital realm, demanding that we interrogate power structures embedded within technological systems.
The tension between localized equity practices and global techno-governance reveals a fundamental paradox of our time. While communities develop grassroots initiatives, participatory technology design, and locally responsive digital inclusion programmes, they simultaneously operate within ecosystems dominated by transnational corporations, standardized platforms, and governance frameworks that often prioritize efficiency and scalability over equity and local autonomy. This creates a dynamic where well-intentioned local interventions may be constrained or undermined by broader structural forces beyond community control.
Recent scholarship and empirical evidence demonstrate the multidimensional nature of this challenge. Digital justice intersects with numerous domains including data sovereignty and privacy rights; algorithmic bias and automated decision-making; digital labor and platform economics; smart city governance and surveillance; financial technology and digital banking access; educational technology and the digital divide; healthcare digitization and telemedicine equity; civic participation and e-governance; artificial intelligence ethics and community involvement; and cybersecurity and digital rights protection.
This Special Issue seeks original, rigorous, and innovative contributions that grapple with these complexities, addressing the central question: how can localized equity practices effectively challenge, negotiate with, or transform global techno-governance structures to advance digital justice and strengthen the socio-economic fabric of communities?
Contributions have to follow one of the three categories of papers (article, conceptual paper or review) of the journal and address the topic of the Special Issue.
Dr. Pedro Miguel Alves Ribeiro Correia
Dr. Fabrício Castagna Lunardi
Dr. Adriano do Vale
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as conceptual papers are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Societies is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- digital justice
- digital equity
- techno-governance
- socio-economic fabric
- localized equity practices
- algorithmic bias
- digital divide
- data sovereignty
- platform economics
- smart cities
- digital rights
- community technology
- digital inclusion
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
