Empowering Marginalized Communities: A Framework for Social Inclusion

Social inclusion—the ability to participate fully in one’s social world—is gaining importance in policy and academic circles. Information systems research has shown how addressing digital divides and expanding individual capabilities could increase the inclusion of marginalized groups. Yet while these contributions are notable, much of early research often overlooked the deep-seated power relations embedded in social structures—organized patterns of relationships, norms, and institutions that perpetuate inequalities and hierarchies based on gender, race, ethnicity, and caste. However, the field has evolved to bring a more nuanced understanding of how social inclusion can be achieved during the implementation of digital projects. Building on these emerging insights, in this paper, we explore how a social infomediary—an intermediary addressing social issues through information provision to marginalized communities—uses a digitally enabled agriculture extension project to build social inclusion in communities. Drawing on a qualitative case study of a social intermediary in India, our research highlights the role of social context in facilitating and constraining social inclusion efforts. Based on our findings, we develop a 4R social inclusion framework for digital development projects that shows the importance of recognition, reposition, representation, and reciprocation in fostering social inclusion. We also identify corresponding processes: transformative narratives and dialogues, empathic scaffolding, structured discursive spaces, and innovative interdependence. We discuss the practical and theoretical implications of our research and provide future research directions.