ABSTRACT This article provides a meta-analysis of the knowledge gap hypothesis literature published between 1966 and 2018. We find the basic assumption of a positive education-knowledge relationship to be supported. This result is robust across different geographical settings of the knowledge topics examined, independent of the country of data collection, and – in line with the belief gap hypothesis – restricted to (politically) uncontested topics. The central assumption of the hypothesis – that an increase of mass media information fosters knowledge divides between those with less and more formal education – was supported. While TV fulfils a role as a knowledge gap maintainer, print media and especially online media use appears to increase knowledge inequalities between groups with discrepant educational attainment.

中文翻译：

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我们知道什么和不知道什么：知识差距假设的元分析

摘要本文对 1966 年至 2018 年间发表的知识差距假设文献进行了元分析。我们发现积极的教育-知识关系的基本假设得到支持。这一结果在所考察的知识主题的不同地理环境中是稳健的，独立于数据收集的国家，并且——与信念差距假设一致——仅限于（政治上）无争议的主题。该假设的核心假设——大​​众媒体信息的增加促进了受教育程度较低和较多的人之间的知识鸿沟——得到了支持。虽然电视起到了保持知识差距的作用，但印刷媒体，尤其是在线媒体的使用似乎加剧了教育程度不同的群体之间的知识不平等。