Sharing economy is the collaborative consumption between individuals of services, goods and assets. By sharing it doesn't mean free and just like capitalism, people still get paid for renting or providing their services and goods because the economic benefits is the measurement of success and a way to better themselves. By collaborative it does not mean public ownership. The providers still keep the private ownership of means of production and still depend on manual labor and free-market.
Originated from the peer to peer sharing activity like carpooling, DVD rental and public cycling, sharing economy inherits the basic structure and ideology of P2P such as the tools of production get democratized, decentralized and democratic and governed by the community of producers themselves are completely opposed to those of capitalist economy with hierarchy, monopoly and private ownership.
Emerging as the result of knowledge-based capitalism, it becomes highly dependent on technology and production of the immaterial, which make Uber and Airbnb happen. With a crowdsourcing platform based on websites and mobile phone applications, the production shifts from employees in-house to a network of partners and users outside. This offers an alternative path of entrepreneurship. Instead of hiring people and owning resources, the business lets autonomous individuals start up the tiniest of businesses to leverage their value of assets. The consumption is facilitated by online transaction directly between producers and consumers. It makes us consume wisely, promotes sustainable consumption and prevents hyper-consumption by granting others temporary access to underutilized assets. With its user-based rating system, consumers can directly talk to producers and rate their services publicly incite the producers improve services, allowing identifying and differentiate good behavior from poor behavior and contributing a more transparent, sustainable and equitable competition.
the digital age and the sharing economy
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