The sharing economy: A pathway to sustainability or a nightmarish form of neoliberal capitalism?
Chris Martin
Hi all,
Just to share news of a recent publication in Ecological Economics which I hope might be of interest – ‘The sharing economy: A pathway to sustainability or a nightmarish form of neoliberal capitalism?’
The paper explores how industries, policy-makers, entrepreneurs and grassroots activists are addressing two questions: (1) what is the sharing economy? (2) And, what could or should the sharing economy become? See below for the abstract and here for the paper (free access).
The paper is offered in the hope that it might help researchers to position their work within the vibrant and contradictory sharing economy discourse. So, I would be very interested to hear your thoughts or ideas around the research findings.
Many thanks
Chris
Abstract: The sharing economy seemingly encompasses online peer-to-peer economic activities as diverse as rental (Airbnb), for-profit service provision (Uber), and gifting (Freecycle). The Silicon Valley success stories of Airbnb and Uber have catalysed a vibrant sharing economy discourse, participated in by the media, incumbent industries, entrepreneurs and grassroots activists. Within this discourse the sharing economy is framed in contradictory ways; ranging from a potential pathway to sustainability, to a nightmarish form of neoliberalism. However, these framings share a common vision of the sharing economy (a niche of innovation) decentralising and disrupting established socio-technical and economic structures (regimes). Here I present an analysis of the online sharing economy discourse; identifying that the sharing economy is framed as: (1) an economic opportunity; (2) a more sustainable form of consumption; (3) a pathway to a decentralised, equitable and sustainable economy; (4) creating unregulated marketplaces; (5) reinforcing the neoliberal paradigm; and, (6) an incoherent field of innovation. Although a critique of hyper-consumption was central to emergence of the sharing economy niche (2), it has been successfully reframed by regime actors as purely an economic opportunity (1). If the sharing economy follows this pathway of corporate co-option it appears unlikely to drive a transition to sustainability.
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Dr Chris Martin
Research Associate
School of Environment, Education and Development
The University of Manchester
Recent publications: the sharing economy; grassroots innovation; infrastructure business models
Research projects: Triangulum
Web: academic profile, Google Scholar, Academia.edu, blog - openpractices, @chrismartin81 on twitter