5th ISA Forum of Sociology (6-11 July 2025)

Natural language abilities such as reading or writing have become nearly universal in most countries. For centuries these basic competencies were fundamental social stratifiers. At the beginning of 20^th century it encompasses the social division between blue and white collars. Recently, in 21st century new forms of literacy have emerged as mediums to reach better jobs, employability, and therefore social recognition. Among these new literacies we find technical literacies such as artificial intelligence literacy, STEM literacy, data literacy among many others. This session aims to delve to what extent new literacies are reproducing old patterns of social stratification based on natural language under the basis of new forms of knowledge.