Sharing economy ovvero il frutto avvelenato del neoliberismo

The sharing economy likes to present itself as a new economic model, markedly different from the traditional market economy, and scrupulous in its devotion to collaboration, improved resource management, and social solidarity. The word “sharing” points at exactly these values. Nevertheless, and in spite of its self-promotion—very much reflected in the words and slogans it uses to describe itself—the sharing economy is nothing but a remake of neoliberalism, a new version that seeks to exploit the new potentialities of Web 2.0.
Giants of the sharing economy such as Airbnb and Uber are typically digitally-based companies, or app-enterprises, icons of platform capitalism. Their astonishing profits feed on the work of people who once belonged to the middle class and now, impoverished by the neoliberal economy, are forced to accept “gig work,” leaving them bereft of both rights and dignity.