E-Learning Beyond the Classroom: Investigating Socio-Economic Inequalities in Online Educational Practices Among Bulgarian Students

New Internet-based educational technologies, platforms and applications are becoming increasingly popular among learners worldwide. Using them, students and learners are finding ways to make learning easier, more fun and more effective. However, the digitalization of education raises questions about the distribution of digital resources and who has access to education and who does not. This research attempts to answer the question of how economic inequalities become educational in the context of the use of online educational resources by drawing on Bourdieu's cultural capital theory. The article provides quantitative analysis on data from Eurostat's ICT usage in households and by individuals, analysed by using structural equation modelling to demonstrate how economic inequalities are mediated by the technologies into educational inequalities in two ways. First, the access to digital technology leads to increased digital skills, and second, the technology and digital skills lead to greater chances of using online educational resources.