After the Gig

June 1, 2020
Boston College sociologist Schor (True Wealth) punctures the hype surrounding the “sharing economy” in this lucid and deeply researched study. Highlighting the elitism of even the most well-intentioned ventures, Schor draws on case studies conducted by a team of graduate students to detail, for instance, how a Brooklyn food swap was “undone by a combination of foodie judgmentalism and overt snobbery.” She reveals that for-profit sharing platforms such as TaskRabbit are dominated by well-educated whites looking to supplement their incomes, while full-time workers face a lack of benefits, poor job security, and unpredictable earning streams. She also accuses Uber and Lyft of worsening traffic conditions and increasing pollution by drawing riders from public transportation, and cites studies that Airbnb has contributed to rising rents. Schor identifies some successes, including the gifting platform Freecycle, which she says offers “an environmentally satisfying and convenient way” of solving the problem of overbuying, and holds out hope that sharing platforms can help to address global warming and income inequality. Schor backs her claims with detailed evidence, and identifies specific, actionable reforms. This incisive account makes a perplexing subject easier to grasp.

July 15, 2020
Noted technology critic, economist, and sociologist Schor examines the appropriation of job-sharing platforms by corporations, to the detriment of working people and consumers alike. Working with a team of doctoral candidates over a seven-year period, the author documents the rise and fall of what was once a revolutionary idea hatched during the financial collapse of 2008--namely, that "digital technology could solve the problem of work." One such problem is bad bosses, unneeded when algorithms can do the job of task assignment and supervision; another is the "nine-to-five grind," obviated by flexible hours; still another is the lack of reasonable pay, which the digital platforms were supposed to remedy by providing close matches in the supply-and-demand realm. Instead, writes Schor, what happened is that the digital platforms fell into the hands of the suits, who increasingly turned a technological revolution into a profit center. "At their worst," she holds, "the companies have morphed into predatory employers." Some of those companies are household names--Uber, Lyft, AirBnB--while others might have been. One such case is Zipcar, which rents cars on a short-term basis to city dwellers in need of a run to the grocery or hardware store but who might otherwise have used public transportation, thereby doing nothing to lessen the urban carbon footprint, "a classic case of unintended consequences." Sharing platforms as originally conceived by techno-libertarians included such things as a community pub, a "time bank" that allowed people to barter services, and a library of sorts that allowed people to borrow tools. Instead, what they've devolved to are things like the economic "wild goose chase" by which drivers-for-hire cruise the streets looking for clients and algorithm-driven food-delivery services with punishing fees for restaurateurs. The author, a nimble writer, concludes that "social technology" has to match technology itself, the foremost need being "learning how to share." The gig economy is a failure, Schor sharply chronicles--but not one that can't be redeemed by "cooperation and helping."

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