In Constant Tension between Markets and Movements. A Field-Theoretical Perspective on Peer-to-Peer Sharing

My dissertation project focusses on the complex interplay between the constitution of market actors and social movements in the case of peer-to-peer sharing.

Profit-oriented peer-to-peer sharing platforms have become dynamic and controversial actors in todays economy, operating in numerous economic sectors (such as accommodation, mobility, private gastronomy or gig working) both transnationally and locally. Private resources like apartments or cars, in the beginning of digital sharing used to provide alternatives to markets as in the case of Couchsurfing (as an alternative to hotel beds) or of the german platform Mitfahrgemeinschaft (as an alternative to for-profit car rentals), now have become market objects themselves. Instead of professional sellers, private individuals now commodify their own ressources, mediated by digital market organizers such as Airbnb or BlaBlaCar. At the same time, resemblances between profit-oriented and non-profit platforms quickly occur when looking at the organizational frames and structures: Both frame their practices by using similar non-market notions closely related to sharing as a „more social“ practice. Furthermore, both not only rely on platforms as their basic infrastructure, but in some cases make use of it to intermediate the same products and services.

Yet, something has changed in recent years. New non-profit platforms and networks have emerged to challenge what they see as „platform capitalism“. Trying to constitute themselves as a social movement and opposing both the term sharing economy and the profit-oriented practices involved, these platforms and networks frame themselves as „platform cooperatives“, aiming to transform alternatives in makets into alternatives to markets once again. This constant tension between the constitution of market actors and social movements, so I argue, needs further examination, guided by the key questions why emerging fields constitute themselves in a specific way and who is shaping the field on the basis of what resources.