The Problems
The "Sharing" Economy
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Image by Susie Cagle, from https://medium.com/the-nib/the-case-against-sharing-9ea5ba3d216d
What is sharing anyway? This question was asked at Share, a sharing economy conference in 2014. The man who asked the question is Noah Karesh, the co-founder of a sharing economy company called Feastly. Though feastly, you can advertise meals that you are going to cook, and through the platform eaters will sign up to attend your meal for a fee. Is this really sharing?
This question can be asked to many of the companies who categorize themselves under the umbrella of the sharing economy. Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, TaskRabbit, and the parking app Pavemint, all proudly call themselves part of the sharing economy. Upon further investigation, the term sharing doesn't seem to apply. The term sharing evokes feelings of pro-social, altruistic giving of resources without the expectation of receiving anything in return. That is not what these sharing economy corporations are doing. But, as is evidenced by their marketing campaigns, it is what they want you to think they are doing. In her article in The Medium, Susie Cagle sums up this branding succinctly:
“For the past few years, the “sharing economy” has characterized itself as a revolution: Renting a room on Airbnb or catching an Uber is an act of civil disobedience in the service of a righteous return to human society’s true nature of trust and village-building that will save the planet and our souls. A higher form of enlightened capitalism.”
On the Pavemint website it says "Pavemint is more than a parking app. It's a community." The Feastly site shows this quote from Julia Child “Dining with one's friends and beloved family is certainly one of life's primal and most innocent delights, one that is both soul-satisfying and eternal.” Don't these messages make you feel warm and fuzzy?
These examples of sharing economies are not creating revolutionary platforms for sharing our resources to increase value for all. They are creating new markets using our screens as the storefront, all the while claiming that they are a part of the morally superior economic model. This delusion of supposed sharing is not the only problem with the big corporations in the sharing economy, as several studies have shown, these platforms can contribute to racism and discrimination.
This question can be asked to many of the companies who categorize themselves under the umbrella of the sharing economy. Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, TaskRabbit, and the parking app Pavemint, all proudly call themselves part of the sharing economy. Upon further investigation, the term sharing doesn't seem to apply. The term sharing evokes feelings of pro-social, altruistic giving of resources without the expectation of receiving anything in return. That is not what these sharing economy corporations are doing. But, as is evidenced by their marketing campaigns, it is what they want you to think they are doing. In her article in The Medium, Susie Cagle sums up this branding succinctly:
“For the past few years, the “sharing economy” has characterized itself as a revolution: Renting a room on Airbnb or catching an Uber is an act of civil disobedience in the service of a righteous return to human society’s true nature of trust and village-building that will save the planet and our souls. A higher form of enlightened capitalism.”
On the Pavemint website it says "Pavemint is more than a parking app. It's a community." The Feastly site shows this quote from Julia Child “Dining with one's friends and beloved family is certainly one of life's primal and most innocent delights, one that is both soul-satisfying and eternal.” Don't these messages make you feel warm and fuzzy?
These examples of sharing economies are not creating revolutionary platforms for sharing our resources to increase value for all. They are creating new markets using our screens as the storefront, all the while claiming that they are a part of the morally superior economic model. This delusion of supposed sharing is not the only problem with the big corporations in the sharing economy, as several studies have shown, these platforms can contribute to racism and discrimination.
Racism in the Sharing Economy
In many sharing economy platforms, the user and the host have the option to choose who they provide their service to. This can lead to people expressing racial and other discrimination. In a study by Ge et. al., they found that African American travelers experienced statistically significantly longer wait times when requesting a ride through UberX or Lyft. They also found that UberX drivers were three times as likely to cancel a ride for a male passenger if they had an African American sounding name. Now, are these racist trends exclusive to the sharing economy? Absolutely not. Still, because of the relative novelty of sharing economy services, there is great potential for designing them to be inclusive and ethical. This should be a priority of all collaborative platform organizations.