Sharing Economy Workers: Selling, not Sharing

• In Event: 118 - Section on Economic Sociology Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 10. Precarious Work and Social Stratification

Abstract

Airbnb, Uber and other sharing or 'gig' economy companies claim that they're bringing small entrepreneurship to the masses. Supporters argue the sharing economy will reverse economic inequality, stop ecological destruction, counter materialistic tendencies, enhance worker rights and empower the poor. But critics such note that that the so-called sharing is largely based on evading regulations and breaking the law, and call out “sharewashing” in which platforms shift risk and expenses onto workers under the guise of sharing. The insecurity and lack of work dependability found in many gig economy jobs sounds suspiciously close to Guy Standing's (2011) concept of the precariat, a growing number of people, "living and working precariously, usually in a series of short-term jobs, without recourse to stable occupational identities or careers, stable social protection or protective regulations."

This paper explores the lived experience of 75+ workers in the sharing economy. I argue that instead of viewing themselves as part of a nascent social movement, workers often reject the sharing economy rhetoric and critique these services as part of the loaning or selling economy -- or worse. Whereas the companies market themselves as offering workers the opportunity to be their own boss or even start their own business, workers rarely view this work as entrepreneurship, but as simply a money-making tool. Rather than serving as a novel on-ramp to small business ownership, the few workers who identify as entrepreneurs often have significant skills or capital that would also enable them to succeed outside the sharing economy.

Author

• Alexandrea J Ravenelle, CUNY: The Graduate Center