Concept
Sharing economy
Also known as: Collaborative consumption, Access economy
A broad set of economic forms where access to goods and services is shared rather than individually owned. Includes both for-profit platforms (Uber, Airbnb — often criticized as extraction-economy in sharing-economy clothing) and genuine commons-aligned forms (tool libraries, repair cafés, fix-it clinics, freecycle, Buy Nothing groups, library-of-things). The term has been heavily contested; the genuine sharing economy is the latter category — community institutions reducing total resource consumption while increasing access.
Two distinct economies under one name
The “sharing economy” terminology was popularized in the late 2000s and 2010s but quickly became contested. Two very different economic forms wear the same label:
Platform-extraction (often misnamed sharing):
- Uber, Lyft — gig drivers using their own cars
- Airbnb — homeowners renting out rooms
- DoorDash, Instacart — gig labor on demand
These platforms extract value from underregulated labor and assets, typically without corresponding benefits to workers or communities. They are not sharing economies in any meaningful sense.
Genuine sharing economy:
- Tool libraries, library of things
- Repair cafés, fix-it clinics
- Freecycle, Buy Nothing groups
- Skill-sharing, time-banks
- Carshare cooperatives (genuinely cooperative ones)
- Equipment-sharing among neighbors
These are community institutions reducing total resource consumption while increasing access. They typically operate as nonprofits, cooperatives, or community-volunteer organizations.
Why the distinction matters
The genuine sharing economy contributes to the regenerative project. Platform-extraction does not.
See also
Auto-generated from this entry’s typed relations: frontmatter, grouped by relation type so the editorial signal isn’t flattened.
- Shares approach with: [[commons]] · [[tool-library]]
Sources
- What’s Yours Is Mine, Tom Slee (2015) — critique of platform sharing-economy
- Ours to Hack and to Own, Trebor Scholz and Nathan Schneider eds. (2016) — platform cooperativism alternative
- Multiple commons and community-economy publications
Rooted in life.
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