Sharing + Energy & Environment
This bibliography contains recent literature exploring the environmental impacts of the sharing economy, including transportation networking companies (e.g., Uber and Lyft), hospitality networking companies (e.g., Airbnb), and other network platforms that facilitate sharing.
Please note that this bibliography is still in development.
61 items found
- 1. Aigrain, Philippe. Sharing: Culture and the Economy in the Internet age. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2012.
Summary: “In the past fifteen years, file sharing of digital cultural works between individuals has been at the center of a number of debates on the future of culture itself. To some, sharing constitutes piracy, to be fought against and eradicated. Others see it as unavoidable, and table proposals… More
Summary: “In the past fifteen years, file sharing of digital cultural works between individuals has been at the center of a number of debates on the future of culture itself. To some, sharing constitutes piracy, to be fought against and eradicated. Others see it as unavoidable, and table proposals to compensate for its harmful effects. Meanwhile, little progress has been made towards addressing the real challenges facing culture in a digital world. Sharing starts from a radically different viewpoint, namely that the non-market sharing of digital works is both legitimate and useful. It supports this premise with empirical research, demonstrating that non-market sharing leads to more diversity in the attention given to various works. Taking stock of what we have learned about the cultural economy in recent years, Sharing sets out the conditions necessary for valuable cultural functions to remain sustainable in this context. Our software and datasets can be downloaded from the book site at http://www.sharing-thebook.net. On the same site, the reader can also run our models with adjusted parameters and upload datasets in order to run our algorithms for the study of diversity of attention” —Publisher's description.
- 2. Antal, Miklós. “Green Goals and Full Employment: Are They Compatible?” Ecological Economics 107 (2014): 276–286.
Abstract: Two empirical correlations are studied: one between economic growth and environmental impacts, and the other between the lack of economic growth and unemployment. It is demonstrated that, at a global level, economic growth is strongly correlated with environmental impacts, and barriers to… More
Abstract: Two empirical correlations are studied: one between economic growth and environmental impacts, and the other between the lack of economic growth and unemployment. It is demonstrated that, at a global level, economic growth is strongly correlated with environmental impacts, and barriers to fast decoupling are large and numerous. On the other hand, low or negative growth is highly correlated with increasing unemployment in most market economies, and strategies to change this lead to difficult questions and tradeoffs. The coexistence of these two correlations – which have rarely been studied together in the literature on “green growth”, “degrowth” and “a-growth” – justifies ambivalence about growth. To make key environmental goals compatible with full employment, the decoupling of environmental impacts from economic output has to be accompanied by a reduction of dependence on growth. In particular, strategies to tackle unemployment without the need for growth, several of which are studied in this article, need much more attention in research and policy.
- 3. Banning, Marlia E. “Shared Entanglements—Web 2.0, Info-liberalism and Digital Sharing,” Information, Communication and Society 19, no. 4 (2016): 189 – 503.
Abstract: This essay situates digital sharing in ‘info-liberalism’, a neologism encompassing critiques of the close alignment between neoliberal capitalism and digital communication, to capture the affective motions of online sharing and its links to neoliberal capitalism. Digital sharing is a… More
Abstract: This essay situates digital sharing in ‘info-liberalism’, a neologism encompassing critiques of the close alignment between neoliberal capitalism and digital communication, to capture the affective motions of online sharing and its links to neoliberal capitalism. Digital sharing is a keyword with positive semantic associations that encapsulates a contradictory impulse: by definition, sharing is not premised on a monetary exchange for goods or services, yet Web 2.0 enables and celebrates a culture of sharing and sharing-economy that it obliquely exploits to fuel its algorithmically regulated economy. The essay elaborates how algorithms create affective situations and build in philosophies of interaction through ‘affective priming’ [Massumi, B. (2015). The power at the end of the economy. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.] and ‘procedural rhetoric’ [Bogost, I. (2007). Persuasive games: The expressive power of videogames. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; Bogost, I. (2008). The rhetoric of video games. In K. Salem (Ed.), The ecology of games: Connecting youth, games and learning (pp. 117– 140). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.] that cue user participation in digital sharing. It uses everyday vignettes to illustrate the ordinary, ubiquitous ways that Internet companies design new media technologies to create affective situations that induce user participation while expanding their business base. Entanglement is proffered as a conceptual alternative to digital sharing. This concept extends a view of the web and the Internet as a whole as a socio-technical apparatus that merges the affective, symbolic and material, and entwines human and nonhuman entities together through digital sharing to fuel neoliberal capitalism. As a fundamental feature of the apparatus, online sharing greases the wheels of the neoliberal machine and co-opts some of the best impulses of humanity, the affective and altruistic esprit de corps aspect of sharing, to fuel its practices of economic exploitation.
- 4. Barlett, Peggy F. “Campus Sustainable Food Projects: Critique and Engagement,” American Anthropologist 114, no. 1 (2011): 1010 - 115. Accessed June 21, 2016, doi:10.1111/j.1548-1433.2010.01309.x.
Abstract: Campus sustainable food projects recently have expanded rapidly. A review of four components—purchasing goals, academic programs, direct marketing, and experiential learning—shows both intent and capacity to contribute to transformational change toward an alternative food system. The… More
Abstract: Campus sustainable food projects recently have expanded rapidly. A review of four components—purchasing goals, academic programs, direct marketing, and experiential learning—shows both intent and capacity to contribute to transformational change toward an alternative food system. The published rationales for campus projects and specific purchasing guidelines join curricular and cocurricular activities to evaluate, disseminate, and legitimize environmental, economic, social justice, and health concerns about conventional food. Emerging new metrics of food service practices mark a potential shift from rhetoric to market clout, and experiential learning builds new coalitions and can reshape relations with food and place. Campus projects are relatively new and their resilience is not assured, but leading projects have had regional, state, and national impact. The emergence of sustainability rankings in higher education and contract-based compliance around purchasing goals suggests that if support continues, higher education's leadership can extend to the broader agrifood system.
- 5. Belk, Russel. “You Are What You Can Access: Sharing and Collaborative Consumption Online,” Journal of Business Research 67, no. 8 (2014”): 1595 – 1600.
Abstract: Sharing is a phenomenon as old as humankind, while collaborative consumption and the “sharing economy” are phenomena born of the Internet age. This paper compares sharing and collaborative consumption and finds that both are growing in popularity today. Examples are given and an assessment… More
Abstract: Sharing is a phenomenon as old as humankind, while collaborative consumption and the “sharing economy” are phenomena born of the Internet age. This paper compares sharing and collaborative consumption and finds that both are growing in popularity today. Examples are given and an assessment is made of the reasons for the current growth in these practices and their implications for businesses still using traditional models of sales and ownership. The old wisdom that we are what we own, may need modifying to consider forms of possession and uses that do not involve ownership.
- 6. Benkler, Yochai. “’Sharing Nicely’: On Shareable Goods and the Emergence of Sharing as a Modality of Economic Production,” The Yale Law Journal 114 (2004): 273–358.
Summary: “The world's fastest supercomputer and the second-largest commuter transportation system in the United States function on a resource-management model that is not well specified in contemporary economics. ... Which of the two approaches will fill three or four empty seats in a commuter car… More
Summary: “The world's fastest supercomputer and the second-largest commuter transportation system in the United States function on a resource-management model that is not well specified in contemporary economics. ... Which of the two approaches will fill three or four empty seats in a commuter car more efficiently? Will a habit of picking up at one or two meeting points decrease the marginal coordination cost such that it will be lower than stopping for the first hitchhiker, and will it be sufficiently low cost to outperform a stable set of commuting relationships, as is the case with slugging? Which approach, selective or nonselective partial exclusion, will require greater intervention on the part of the computer's owner to assure that the resource is shared up to, but not beyond, the excess capacity? For example, in the case of WiFi access points - currently the most popular standard for wireless Internet access - the owner of the gateway (the device that connects the home wireless network to the cable or DSL modem) can easily set the gateway to full sharing, enabling any user to connect automatically. ... The smaller the amount of excess capacity held by each unit owner relative to the total amount required for the functionality, the higher the number of transactions necessary to achieve the functionality, and the larger the gap in transaction costs between market-based clearance and social sharing.” – from LexisNexus
- 7. Botsman, R., 2014. Collaborative Economy: A Transformative Lens, Not a Start-up Trend [Online].
- 8. Buchholz, Wolfgang and Wolfgang Peters. “Equal Sacrifice and Fair Burden-sharing in a Public Goods Economy,” International Tax Public Finance 15 (2008): 415 - 429. Accessed June 21, 2016, doi: 10.1007/s10797-008-9073-0.
Abstract: Applying a willingness-to-pay approach known from contingent valuation in environmental economics, we develop an ordinally based measure for the size of individual sacrifice that is connected with an agent’s contribution to a public good. We construct a selection mechanism that picks the… More
Abstract: Applying a willingness-to-pay approach known from contingent valuation in environmental economics, we develop an ordinally based measure for the size of individual sacrifice that is connected with an agent’s contribution to a public good. We construct a selection mechanism that picks the unique efficient solution among all allocations that have an equal sacrifice as defined in this way. We show that the solution thus obtained corresponds to Moulin’s egalitarian equivalent allocation, conforms to both the ability-to-pay and the benefit principles, and has much in common with the Lindahl equilibrium.
- 9. Chen, Ying-Ju et al. J. George Shanthikumar and Zuo-Jun Max Shen. “Incentive for Peer-to-Peer Knowledge Sharing among Farmers in Developing Economies,” Productions and Operations Management 24, no. 9 (2015): 1430 – 1440. Accessed June 21, 2016, doi: 10.1111/poms.12328.
Abstract: This study examines the peer-to-peer interactions among farmers when both knowledge learning and sharing are available. We construct a stylized model in which heterogeneous farmers are endowed with their initial production capabilities and can post questions in the platform for help. A representative… More
Abstract: This study examines the peer-to-peer interactions among farmers when both knowledge learning and sharing are available. We construct a stylized model in which heterogeneous farmers are endowed with their initial production capabilities and can post questions in the platform for help. A representative expert regularly monitors the forum and provides answers to the farmers’ questions, but may be non-responsive sometimes due to the limited capacity. A knowledgeable core user (farmer) can choose to be silent or responsive, and is allowed to strategically determine the informativeness of her answers. The farmers face the minimum quantity restriction for attracting the buyers, and must make production before the time of sales. We show that in equilibrium the core user never provides answers that are more informative than the expert’s, irrespective of her ex ante knowledge level. Redesigning or restructuring the platform does not help eliminate this inefficient knowledge provision. We also find that hiring more staff to frequently monitor the forum turns out to be detrimental for the peer-to-peer interactions. Moreover, the competition on knowledge sharing between the platform expert and the core user features strategic complementarity sometimes but strategic substitution at other times. Third, charging for the platform usage may discourage uninformative answers, but it could also discourage the core user from sharing knowledge with other farmers.
- 10. Collaborative Consumption. “The Sharing Economy Lacks a Shared Definition,” last modified November 22, 2016. Accessed June 22, 2016,
- 11. Cooper, Davina. “Time Against Time: Normative Temporalities and the Failure of Community Labour in Local Exchange Trading Schemes,” Time and Society 22, no. 1 (2013): 31 – 54.
Abstract: Why did Local Exchange and Trading Schemes (LETS) fail to realise their promise in 1990s Britain? This article argues that a core reason was the inability to make community labour, a concept at the heart of LETS logic, function as a self - perpetuating dynamic, in which community bonding… More
Abstract: Why did Local Exchange and Trading Schemes (LETS) fail to realise their promise in 1990s Britain? This article argues that a core reason was the inability to make community labour, a concept at the heart of LETS logic, function as a self - perpetuating dynamic, in which community bonding would encourage trade and trade in turn would build community. In exploring reasons for this failure, the article focuses on the centrifugal pull of two contrasting temporalities: community time and labour-market time. And in understanding why these two, normative, temporal orders were unable to combine, cohere or simply to coexist, the article addresses three factors: failure in design; individual member responsibility; and wider temporal pressures.
- 12. Cramer, Judd and Alan B. Krueger. “Disruptive Change in the Taxi: The Case of Uber,” American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings 106, no. 5 (2016): 177 – 182. Accessed June 22, 2016, doi: 10.1257/aer.p20161002
- 13. Dauvergne, Peter and Genevieve LeBaron. “The Social Cost of Environmental Solution,” New Political Economy 18, no. 3 (2013): 410 – 430, doi: 0.1080/13563467.2012.740818.
- 14. Davies, William. “Recovering the Future: The Reinvention of ‘Social Law,’” Public Policy Research 20, no. 3 (2013): 216 -217.
Introduction: Two decades of financialisation’ has left our economic and social institutions suffocated by the logic of investment and debt. To alleviate this burden, William Davies argues, a new wave of ‘social law’ is needed to support institutional innovation and spark hope.
- 15. Davies, William. “Ways of Owning: Towards an Economic Sociology of Privatisation,” Cultures of Circulation, Poetics 40, no. 2 (2012): 167 – 184.
Abstract: Economic sociology has been preoccupied with the institution of markets, to the relative neglect of ownership. It has inherited certain technical and governmental problematics regarding that which can or cannot be internalised within the market price system, leading to the assumption that… More
Abstract: Economic sociology has been preoccupied with the institution of markets, to the relative neglect of ownership. It has inherited certain technical and governmental problematics regarding that which can or cannot be internalised within the market price system, leading to the assumption that the ‘social’ or the ‘public’ is a type of empirical externality. But by shifting attention towards institutions of ownership, the public and the private come to appear as primarily normative appeals, used to challenge and justify the drawing of boundaries in economic life. Boundaries are judged for their justice, as well as for their empirical efficacy. Adopting a pragmatist approach, this paper outlines three possible ‘orders of appropriation’ which can be appealed to when justifying and criticising privatisation in economic situations: the socialist, the neoliberal and the liberal. Beyond any scientific or technical account of property, each of these offers an ‘ultimate’ basis on which to view ownership, according to different and incompatible philosophical anthropologies.
- 16. Dean, Jodi. Publicity’s Secret: How Technoculture Capitalizes on Democracy. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2002.
- 17. Foxon T J et al. Reed M S, Stringer L C. “Governing Long-Term Social-Ecological Change: What Can the Adaptive Management and Transition Management Approaches Learn from Each Other?” European Environment 19, no. 1 (2009): 3 -20.
Abstract: Maintaining social welfare and opportunity in the face of severe ecological pressures requires frameworks for managing and governing long-term social-ecological change. In this paper we analyse two recent frameworks, adaptive management and transition management, outlining what they could… More
Abstract: Maintaining social welfare and opportunity in the face of severe ecological pressures requires frameworks for managing and governing long-term social-ecological change. In this paper we analyse two recent frameworks, adaptive management and transition management, outlining what they could learn from each other. Though usually applied in different domains, the two conceptual frameworks aim to integrate bottom-up and top-down approaches, and share a focus on the ability of systems to learn and develop adaptive capacity whilst facing external shocks and long-term pressures. Both also emphasize learning from experimentation in complex systems, but transition management focuses more on the ability to steer long-term changes in system functions, whilst adaptive management emphasizes the maintenance of system functions in the face of external change. The combination of iterative learning and stakeholder participation from adaptive management has the potential to incorporate vital feedbacks into transition management, which in turn offers a longer-term perspective from which to learn about and manage socio-technical and social-ecological change. It is argued that by combining insights from both frameworks it may be possible to foster more robust and resilient governance of social-ecological systems than could be achieved by either approach alone. The paper concludes by critically reflecting upon the challenges and benefits of combining elements of each approach, as has been attempted in the methodology of a research project investigating social-ecological change in UK uplands.
- 18. G. Seyfang and A. Smith, The Time of Our Lives: Using Time Banking for Neighbourhood Renewal and Community Capacity Building (2002)
- 19. Geels F W, 2005b, “Processes and Patterns in Transitions and System Innovations: Refining the Co-Evolutionary Multi-level Perspective,” Technological Forecasting and Social Change 72, no. 6 (2005): 681 – 696.
Abstract: This article investigates transitions at the level of societal functions (e.g., transport, communication, housing). Societal functions are fulfilled by sociotechnical systems, which consist of a cluster of aligned elements, e.g., artifacts, knowledge, markets, regulation, cultural meaning,… More
Abstract: This article investigates transitions at the level of societal functions (e.g., transport, communication, housing). Societal functions are fulfilled by sociotechnical systems, which consist of a cluster of aligned elements, e.g., artifacts, knowledge, markets, regulation, cultural meaning, infrastructure, maintenance networks and supply networks. Transitions are conceptualised as system innovations, i.e., a change from one sociotechnical system to another. The article describes a co-evolutionary multi-level perspective to understand how system innovations come about through the interplay between technology and society. The article makes a new step as it further refines the multi-level perspective by distinguishing characteristic patterns: (a) two transition routes, (b) fit–stretch pattern, and (c) patterns in breakthrough.
- 20. Geels, Frank W. “The Impact of the Financial-Economic Crisis on Sustainability transitions: Financial Investment, Governance and Public Discourse,” Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions 6 (2013): 67 – 95.
Abstract: The paper distinguishes four views on the impact of the financial–economic crisis on sustainability transitions (operationalized as diffusion of green niche-innovations). The first three views highlight the possibility of positive impacts of the financial–economic crisis on sustainability… More
Abstract: The paper distinguishes four views on the impact of the financial–economic crisis on sustainability transitions (operationalized as diffusion of green niche-innovations). The first three views highlight the possibility of positive impacts of the financial–economic crisis on sustainability transitions and joint solutions: (a) a comprehensive transformation of the capitalist system, (b) a green Industrial Revolution, linked to a sixth green Kondratieff wave, and (c) green growth. The fourth view perceives the impact as mainly negative, because the financial–economic crisis weakens public, political and business attention for environmental problems. The paper confronts these views with secondary data on three analytical categories: (1) financial investment, (2) policy and governance, and (3) public opinion and civil society. Data focus on renewable energy and climate policy in the UK, Europe and the world. The paper concludes that the early crisis years (2008–2010) created a window of opportunity for positive solutions. But since 2010–2011 this window appears to be shrinking, with the financial–economic crisis having negative influences on sustainability transitions that may cause some slow-down.
- 21. Georgeson, Lucien et al. Federic Caprotti and Ian Bailey. “It’s All a Question of Business: Investment Identities, Networks and Decision-making in the Cleantech Economy,” Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography 96, no. 3 (2014): 217–229.
Abstract: Cleantech has emerged in the last decade as a major new investment sector at the forefront of the green economy. It responds to the need for innovative technologies to combat the impact of global environmental, climate and resource trends. Focusing on the cleantech sector, this article explores… More
Abstract: Cleantech has emerged in the last decade as a major new investment sector at the forefront of the green economy. It responds to the need for innovative technologies to combat the impact of global environmental, climate and resource trends. Focusing on the cleantech sector, this article explores the central importance of relationality within the financial domain of the green economy. The central aim of this article is to deepen understandings of the operation of cleantech investment by examining the decision-making processes of cleantech actors, how these are influenced by (and influence) cleantech investment networks, and the relationships between these factors and the macro-level drivers and discourses focused on the cleantech sector. A relational economic geography approach is used in conjunction with other frameworks (spanning the cultural, structural and actor-network dimensions of cleantech investment) to investigate: how cleantech investors define the sector; the macro- and micro-level drivers of cleantech investment; and how cleantech networks form and operate to create and disseminate cleantech discourses and to generate the mutual trust and information sharing needed to secure cleantech investments. In so doing, the article seeks to shed greater light on the micro-level processes contributing to the creation and growth of cleantech investment markets as an essential catalyst and component of the green economy.
- 22. Heinrichs, Harald. “Sharing Economy: A Potential New Pathway to Sustainability,” Gaia 22, no. 4 (2013): 228–231.
Abstract: Despite the success of some environmental and sustainability initiatives and measures in policy-making, business and society, overall trends follow an unsustainable path. Especially in the field of production and consumption of goods and services, environmental sustainability and social… More
Abstract: Despite the success of some environmental and sustainability initiatives and measures in policy-making, business and society, overall trends follow an unsustainable path. Especially in the field of production and consumption of goods and services, environmental sustainability and social equality remain critical challenges. Therefore new approaches are needed alongside existing strategies and policy instruments. The "sharing economy" has the potential to provide a new pathway to sustainability--and transdisciplinary sustainability science has the opportunity to co-shape and accompany this pathway.
- 23. Horton, John J. and Richard J. Zeckhauser. Owning, Using and Renting: Some Simple Economics of the ‘Sharing Economy.’ Accessed June 21, 2016.
Abstract: Entrepreneurs have created a number of new Internet-based platforms that enable owners to rent out their durable goods when not using them for personal consumption. We develop a model of these kinds of markets in order to analyze the determinants of ownership, rental rates, quantities, and… More
Abstract: Entrepreneurs have created a number of new Internet-based platforms that enable owners to rent out their durable goods when not using them for personal consumption. We develop a model of these kinds of markets in order to analyze the determinants of ownership, rental rates, quantities, and the surplus generated in these markets. Our analysis considers both a short run, before consumers can revise their ownership decisions and a long run, in which they can. This allows us to explore how patterns of ownership and consumption might change as a result of these new markets. We also examine the impact of bringing-to-market costs, such as depreciation, labor costs and transaction costs and consider the platform’s pricing problem. An online survey of consumers broadly supports the modeling assumptions employed. For example, ownership is determined by individuals’ forward-looking assessments of planned usage. Factors enabling sharing markets to flourish are explored.
- 24. Ingrid Gould Ellen. “Housing Low-Income Households: Lessons From the Sharing Economy?” Housing Policy Debate 25, no. 4 (2015): 783-784, doi:10.1080/10511482.2015.1042204.
- 25. Isenhour, Cindy. “How the Grass Became Greener in the City: On Urban Imaginings and Practices of Sustainable Living in Sweden,” City & Society 23: 117–134. Accessed June 21, 2016, doi:10.1111/j.1548-744X.2011.01058.x.
Abstract: Far removed from a direct connection to the land and environmental feedback, most urban inhabitants have little choice but to rely on external sources of information as they formulate their understanding of sustainability. This reliance on analytical, scientifically produced, and highly… More
Abstract: Far removed from a direct connection to the land and environmental feedback, most urban inhabitants have little choice but to rely on external sources of information as they formulate their understanding of sustainability. This reliance on analytical, scientifically produced, and highly technical sources of information—such as life-cycle analyses, carbon footprints and climate change projections—solidifies definitions of sustainable living centered on technological resource efficiencies while concentrating the power to define sustainability with experts and the industrial and political elite. Drawing on 14 months of ethnographic field work in and around Stockholm, Sweden, this paper explores how urban alienation shapes ideas about sustainable living among ecologically concerned citizen-consumers and how the urban focus on efficiency has led many to argue that the grass is now greener in the city. Meanwhile this ethnographic research demonstrates that the efficiency-based perspectives so dominant in urban settings are contested by other Swedes who argue that sustainable living also depends on localized connections to the land and communal self-sufficiency. Despite these contrasting perspectives, research presented here suggests that these views are united in the Swedish context by a historically-rooted concern for global equity. As such, the concept of “a fair share of environmental space” resonates with many Swedes who are concerned about human and environmental health, regardless of where they live or how they define or practice sustainable living.
- 26. J. Rifkin, The Third Industrial Revolution: How Lateral Power is Transforming Energy, the Economy, and the World (2011).
- 27. Kemp, Rene et al. Johan Schot and Remco Hoogma. “Regime Shifts to Sustainability Through Processes of Niche Formation: The Approach of Strategic Niche Management,” Technology Analysis and Strategic Management 10, no. 2 (1998): 175 – 195.
Abstract: The unsustainability of the present trajectories of technical change in sectors such as transport and agriculture is widely recognized. It is far from clear, however, how a transition to more sustainable modes of development may be achieved. Sustainable technologies that fulfill important… More
Abstract: The unsustainability of the present trajectories of technical change in sectors such as transport and agriculture is widely recognized. It is far from clear, however, how a transition to more sustainable modes of development may be achieved. Sustainable technologies that fulfill important user requirements in terms of performance and price are most often not available on the market. Ideas of what might be more sustainable technologies exist, but the long development times, uncertainty about market demand and social gains, and the need for change at different levels provide a great barrier. This raises the question of how the potential of more sustainable technologies and modes of development may be exploited. An article describes how technical change is locked into dominant technological regimes. The perspective consists of the creation and/or management of niches for promising technologies.
- 28. Kennedy, Jenny. “Conceptual Boundaries of Sharing,” Information, Communication and Society 19, no 4 (2016): 461 – 474.
Abstract: Sharing has been subjected to continuous re-imagination and positioning throughout networked culture’s history. Recently, there has been specific emphasis on user-generated content and social media platforms. Particular social actors, such as social media platforms, attempt to cultivate… More
Abstract: Sharing has been subjected to continuous re-imagination and positioning throughout networked culture’s history. Recently, there has been specific emphasis on user-generated content and social media platforms. Particular social actors, such as social media platforms, attempt to cultivate an imaginary of sharing in networked culture. They do this by appropriating positive social values associated with common understandings of sharing, such as community, generosity, shared values of cooperation, and participation. While there has been a recent surge of interest in sharing, conceptual gaps remain. Though sharing is a central concept of networked culture, in this paper I show how its boundaries with other social theories of exchange have not been sufficiently established nor has the concept itself been adequately critiqued. Most significantly, this paper problematizes how sharing is implicated and positioned in studies of networked culture. I argue that a framework for a theory of sharing is needed and identify three distinct perspectives in the literature: sharing as an economy driven by social capital; sharing as a mode of scaled distribution; and sharing as a site of social intensification. It is shown how the use of the term sharing in the description of practices in networked culture is fraught with ambiguity. The paper concludes by elucidating how a focus on sharing practices can advance the field.
- 29. Lutter, Stephan et al. Stefan Guljum and Martin Bruckner. “A Review and Comparative Assessment of Existing Approaches to Calculate Material Footprints,” Ecological Economics 127 (2016): 1 – 10.
Abstract: Effective implementation of resource policies requires consistent and robust indicators. An increasing number of national and international strategies focusing on resource efficiency as a means for reaching a “green economy” call for such indicators. As supply chains of goods and services… More
Abstract: Effective implementation of resource policies requires consistent and robust indicators. An increasing number of national and international strategies focusing on resource efficiency as a means for reaching a “green economy” call for such indicators. As supply chains of goods and services are increasingly organised on the global level, comprehensive indicators taking into account upstream material flows associated with internationally traded products need to be compiled. Particularly in the last few years, the development of consumption-based indicators of material use – also termed “material footprints” – has made considerable progress. This paper presents a comprehensive review of existing methodologies to calculate material footprint- type indicators. The three prevailing approaches, i.e. environmentally extended input–output analysis (EE-IOA), coefficient approaches based on process analysis data, and hybrid approaches combing elements of EE-IOA and process analysis are presented, existing models using the different approaches discussed, and advantages and disadvantages of each approach identified. We argue that there is still a strong need for improvement of the specific approaches as well as comparability of results, in order to reduce uncertainties. The paper concludes with recommendations for further development covering methodological, data and institutional aspects.
- 30. MacDonald, Daniel. “What’s Yours Is Mine: Against the Sharing Economy,” Journal of Labor and Society 19, no. 2 (2016): 286 – 289.
- 31. Mainelli, Michael and Mike Smith. “Sharing Ledgers for Sharing Economies: An Exploration of Mutual Distributed Ledgers (AKA Blockchain Technology),” Journal of Financial Perspective: Fintech 3, no. 3 (2015). Accessed June 22, 2016.
- 32. Manzo, Cecilia and Francesco Ramella. “Fab Labs in Italy: Collective Goods in the Sharing Economy,” Stato e mercato .105 (2015): 379 – 418.
- 33. Martin, C.J., Upham, P., 2015. “Grassroots Social Innovation and the Mobilisation of Values in Collaborative Consumption: A Conceptual Model,” Journal of Cleaner Production (2015): 1 -10, doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.04.062.
Abstract: There is growing interest in the potential of grassroots innovations to play a role in the transition to sustainable production and consumption systems. However, the role of values has been little considered in relation to the development and diffusion of grassroots innovations. We develop… More
Abstract: There is growing interest in the potential of grassroots innovations to play a role in the transition to sustainable production and consumption systems. However, the role of values has been little considered in relation to the development and diffusion of grassroots innovations. We develop a conceptual model of how citizens' values are mobilised by grassroots innovations, drawing on the value theory of Schwartz et al. (2012) and the theory of collective enactment of values of Chen et al. (2013). Using the results of a large scale survey of free reuse groups (e.g. Freecycle and Freegle), which enable collaborative forms of consumption, we apply theconceptual model to explore how participants' values are mobilised and expressed. We show that while the majority of free reuse group participants do hold significantly stronger self- transcendence (i.e. pro-social) values than the wider UK population, they also hold other values in common with that population and a minority actually place less emphasis on self-transcendence values. We conclude that diffusion of this particular grassroots innovation is unlikely to be simply value limited and that structural features may be more significant.
- 34. Martin, Chris J. “The Sharing Economy: A Pathway to Sustainability or Nightmarish Form of Neoliberal Capitalism?” Ecological Economics 121 (2016): 149 - 159. Accessed June 21, 2016, doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2015.11.027.
Abstract: The sharing economy seemingly encompasses online peer-to-peer economic activities as diverse as rental (Airbnb), for-profit service provision (Uber), and gifting (Freecycle). The Silicon Valley success stories of Airbnb and Uber have catalysed a vibrant sharing economy discourse, participated… More
Abstract: The sharing economy seemingly encompasses online peer-to-peer economic activities as diverse as rental (Airbnb), for-profit service provision (Uber), and gifting (Freecycle). The Silicon Valley success stories of Airbnb and Uber have catalysed a vibrant sharing economy discourse, participated in by the media, incumbent industries, entrepreneurs and grassroots activists. Within this discourse the sharing economy is framed in contradictory ways; ranging from a potential pathway to sustainability, to a nightmarish form of neoliberalism. However, these framings share a common vision of the sharing economy (a niche of innovation) decentralising and disrupting established socio-technical and economic structures (regimes). Here I present an analysis of the online sharing economy discourse; identifying that the sharing economy is framed as: (1) an economic opportunity; (2) a more sustainable form of consumption; (3) a pathway to a decentralised, equitable and sustainable economy; (4) creating unregulated marketplaces; (5) reinforcing the neoliberal paradigm; and, (6) an incoherent field of innovation. Although a critique of hyper-consumption was central to emergence of the sharing economy niche (2), it has been successfully reframed by regime actors as purely an economic opportunity (1). If the sharing economy follows this pathway of corporate co- option it appears unlikely to drive a transition to sustainability.
- 35. Martin, Chris J. et al. Paul Upham and Leslie Budd. “Commercial Orientation in Grassroots Social Innovation: Insights from the Sharing Economy,” Ecological Economics 118 (2015): 1140 - 251. Accessed June 21, 2016, doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2015.08.001.
Abstract: There is growing interest in the roles of the sharing economy and grassroots innovation in the transition to sustainable societies. Grassroots innovation research has tended to assume a sharp distinction between grassroots organisations and businesses within niches of socio-technical innovation.… More
Abstract: There is growing interest in the roles of the sharing economy and grassroots innovation in the transition to sustainable societies. Grassroots innovation research has tended to assume a sharp distinction between grassroots organisations and businesses within niches of socio-technical innovation. However, the non-profit sector literature identifies a tendency for non-profit organisations to actually become more commercially-oriented over time. Seeking to account for this tendency, we develop a conceptual model of the dynamics of grassroots organisations within socio-technical niches. Using a case study of Freegle, a grassroots organisation within the sharing economy niche, we apply the conceptual model to illustrate the causes, processes and outcomes of grassroots niche organisations becoming more commercially-oriented. We show that a grassroots organisation may be subject to coercive and indirect (isomorphic) pressures to become more commercially-oriented and highlight the ambiguities of this dynamic. Furthermore, we highlight that global niche actors may exert coercive pressures that limit the enactment and propagation of the practices and values of grassroots organisations. We conclude by highlighting the need for further research exploring the desirability and feasibility of protecting grassroots organisations from pressures to become more commercially-oriented.
- 36. McNeil, Donald. “Governing a City of Unicorns: Technology Capital and the Urban Politics of San Francisco,” Urban Geography 37, no. 4 (2016): 494 – 513.
Abstract: San Francisco is now widely considered to be the most important city in the world for the location of new technology start-up firms, especially high valuation “unicorns,” and is increasingly seen as both a locational and metaphorical extension of Silicon Valley. In this paper, I trace… More
Abstract: San Francisco is now widely considered to be the most important city in the world for the location of new technology start-up firms, especially high valuation “unicorns,” and is increasingly seen as both a locational and metaphorical extension of Silicon Valley. In this paper, I trace some of the political strategies and tensions that have accompanied the city’s prominence in this area, and in particular the distinctive role of technology and venture capital in the political economy of urban development. The paper has four empirical sections. It describes (1) the political machinations surrounding the 2011 and 2015 municipal elections, which saw the election of Ed Lee as Mayor with significant support from individual technology investors such as Ron Conway and Marc Benioff, and accompanied by various “tech-friendly” policy shifts; (2) the foundation of the “tech chamber of commerce” sf.citi as a means of enhancing the policy influence of the tech industry in San Francisco; (3) the introduction of a low taxation regime in the city’s Central Market area that has attracted technology companies such as Twitter as tenants; and (4) the urban policy tensions associated with the evolution of new “sharing economy” firms such as Uber and Airbnb, which have aggressively challenged municipal regulations in the taxi and property rental fields. Throughout these machinations, we can see a reshaping of capital fractions, with venture and angel capital increasingly involved in reengineering the labor, housing, and public transport markets of the city in order to circumvent the accumulation problems that tech investors had suffered in the earlier dot.com failures.
- 37. Morell, M. F. (2011). The unethics of sharing: Wikiwashing. International Review of Information Ethics, 15, 9–16.
Abstract: In order for online communities to assemble and grow, some basic infrastructure is necessary that makes possible the aggregation of the collective action. There is a very intimate and complex relationship between the technological infrastructure and the social character of the community… More
Abstract: In order for online communities to assemble and grow, some basic infrastructure is necessary that makes possible the aggregation of the collective action. There is a very intimate and complex relationship between the technological infrastructure and the social character of the community which uses it. Today, most infrastructure is provided by corporations and the contrast between community and corporate dynamics is becoming increasingly pronounced. But rather than address the issues, the corporations are actively obfuscating it. Wikiwashing refers to a strategy of corporate infrastructure providers where practices associated to their role of profit seeking corporations (such as abusive terms of use, privacy violation, censorship, and use of voluntary work for profit purposes, among others) that would be seen as unethical by the communities they enable are concealed by promoting a misleading image of themselves associated with the general values of wikis and Wikipedia (such as sharing and collaboration, openness and transparency). The empirical analysis is based on case studies (Facebook , Yahoo! and Google) and triangulation of several methods.
- 38. Morgan, Bronwen. “Radical Transactionalism: Legal Consciousness, Diverse Economies, and the Sharing Economy,” Journal of Law and Society 24, no. 4 (2015): 556 – 87.
Abstract: This article proposes an original theoretical approach to the analysis of community-level action for sustainability, focusing on its troubled relationship to the sharing economy. Through a conversation between scholarship on legal consciousness and diverse economies, it shows how struggles… More
Abstract: This article proposes an original theoretical approach to the analysis of community-level action for sustainability, focusing on its troubled relationship to the sharing economy. Through a conversation between scholarship on legal consciousness and diverse economies, it shows how struggles over transactional legality are a neglected site of activism for sustainability. Recognizing the diversity of economic life and forms of law illuminates what we call `radical transactionalism': the creative redeployment of legal techniques and practices relating to risk management, organizational form, and the allocation of contractual and property rights in order to further the purpose of internalizing social and ecological values into the heart of economic exchange. By viewing sharing-economy initiatives `beyond Airbnb and Uber' as sites of radical transactionalism, legal building blocks of property and capital can be reimagined and reconfigured, helping to construct a shared infrastructure for the exercise of collective agency in response to disadvantage sustained by law.
- 39. Nekby, Lena. “Gender Differences in Rent Sharing and its Implications for the Gender Wage Gap, Evidence from Sweden,” Economic Letters 81, no. 3 (2003): 403 - 410. Accessed June 21, 2016, doi:10.1016/S0165-1765(03)00226-X.
Abstract: This study, using matched employer–employee data, analyses gender differences in rent sharing. Results indicate significantly smaller remuneration from firm profits for women, a difference that increases along the wage distribution. Gender differences in rent sharing explain less than… More
Abstract: This study, using matched employer–employee data, analyses gender differences in rent sharing. Results indicate significantly smaller remuneration from firm profits for women, a difference that increases along the wage distribution. Gender differences in rent sharing explain less than 2% of mean gender wage differentials as differences are found in remuneration from firm profit and not in the mean profit levels of employing firms.
- 40. Nill, Jan and Rene Kemp. “Evolutionary Approaches for Sustainable Innovation Policies: From Niche to Paradigm,” Research Policy 38 (2009): 668 – 680.
Abstract: Fostering technological innovation is considered as an important element of policies towards sustainable development. In the past 10 years, evolutionary policy approaches have been increasingly advocated. For several reasons, they seem well equipped to underpin sustainable innovation policies.… More
Abstract: Fostering technological innovation is considered as an important element of policies towards sustainable development. In the past 10 years, evolutionary policy approaches have been increasingly advocated. For several reasons, they seem well equipped to underpin sustainable innovation policies. They focus on dynamics of change and their drivers, they allow for a substantive perspective on technologies beyond mere input–output relations, taking into account trajectories and different characteristics of innovation, and they are able to describe circumstances under which established technologies might persist even when they are to some extent inferior to their new competitors (lock-in). However, the policy effectiveness of evolutionary approaches in cases in which radical or systemic changes are involved is not yet proven. In this paper we assess the theoretical rationale, instrumental aspects and the coping with policy constraints of three evolutionary policy approaches which have also been used in empirical studies: strategic niche management, transition management and time strategies. Each approach has its strengths and specific problems and all three have to be further developed and tested out but they hold promise for contributing to non-incremental change with economic and environmental benefits, by shaping processes of variation, selection and retention, with the outcomes feeding back into policy. They may also be used in other areas in which innovation direction is important, for instance health care or food.
- 41. North, Peter. “The business of the Anthropocene? Substantivist and diverse economies perspectives on SME engagement in local low carbon transitions,” Progress in Human Geography, doi: 10.1177/0309132515585049.
Abstract: The involvement of private sector actors in low carbon urban transitions is a neglected element of geographical analysis. Drawing on Polanyian, cultural economic geographies and the non-capitalocentric ethics of JK Gibson-Graham’s diverse economies perspective, the paper engages with the… More
Abstract: The involvement of private sector actors in low carbon urban transitions is a neglected element of geographical analysis. Drawing on Polanyian, cultural economic geographies and the non-capitalocentric ethics of JK Gibson-Graham’s diverse economies perspective, the paper engages with the wider literature on the engagement of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in environmental action, corporate social responsibility and low carbon transitions to develop a substantivist account of the contribution of SMEs to local low carbon transitions. The paper argues that, contra formalist economic analyses of economic rationality, SME owners should not be thought of as uncritical profit maximizers but as actors in favour of positive low carbon futures. Thus the paper argues that Polanyian economic geographies and diverse economies perspectives, which rarely speak to each other, can be drawn together, and concludes with suggestions for future research.
- 42. NPR, “Special Series: The Sharing Economy: A Shift Away from Ownership” (2013)
- 43. Razi, Mohamed Jalaldeen Mohamed et al. Nor Shahriza Abdul Karim and Norshidah Mohamed. “Gender Difference Effects on Contributing Factors of Intention to be Involved in Knowledge Creation and Sharing,” Asian Economic and Financial Review 7, no. 4 (2014): 893-907. Accessed June 21, 2016, doi: 10.18488/journal.aefr.
Abstract: The paper analyses the moderating effects of demographics factors of organizational members on the contributing factors of intention to be involved in Knowledge Management (KM) process; knowledge creation and knowledge sharing. The KM processes were operationalized through knowledge creation… More
Abstract: The paper analyses the moderating effects of demographics factors of organizational members on the contributing factors of intention to be involved in Knowledge Management (KM) process; knowledge creation and knowledge sharing. The KM processes were operationalized through knowledge creation theory (SECI process). Data were collected from 313 executives in the Sri Lankan Telecommunication Industry using self-administered questionnaires. Two KM enablers; 'trust & collaboration' and 'ICT use and support for search and sharing', and two individual acceptance factors; 'performance expectancy of KM', and 'effort expectancy of KM' were considered as contributing factors of intention to be involved in KM process. The study found that gender moderates the relationship between 'ICT use and support for search and sharing', 'performance expectancy of KM' and intention to be involved in KM process. The findings suggest that if the policy makers in the industry are planning to implement KM initiatives, they should consider gender differences of the executives and the strategies should be formulated accordingly.
- 44. Scaraboto, Daiane. “Selling, Sharing, and Everything In Between: The Hybrid Economies of Collaborative Networks,” Journal of Consumer Research 42 (2015): 152 – 176.
Abstract: Recent consumer research has examined contexts where market-based exchange, gift-giving, sharing, and other modes of exchange occur simultaneously and obey several intersecting logics, but consumer research has not conceptualized these so-called hybrid economic forms nor explained how these… More
Abstract: Recent consumer research has examined contexts where market-based exchange, gift-giving, sharing, and other modes of exchange occur simultaneously and obey several intersecting logics, but consumer research has not conceptualized these so-called hybrid economic forms nor explained how these hybrids are shaped and sustained. Using ethnographic and ethnographic data from the collaborative network of geocaching, this study explains the emergence of hybrid economies. Performativity theory is mobilized to demonstrate that the hybrid status of these economies is constantly under threat of destabilization by the struggle between competing performativities of market and nonmarket modes of exchange. Despite latent tension between competing performativities, the hybrid economy is sustained through consumer–producer engagements in collaborative consumption and production, the creation of zones of indeterminacy, and the enactment of tournaments of value that dissipate controversies around hybrid transactions. Implications are drawn for consumer research on the interplay between market and nonmarket economies.
- 45. Schor, Juliet B. “Sustainable Consumption and Worktime Reduction,” Journal of Industrial Ecology 9 (2005): 37 – 50.
Abstract: This article argues that in the global North a successful path to sustainability will entail a stabilization of consumption through reductions in hours of work, a solution that neither ecologists nor economists have addressed seriously. The article presents data on the slowdown of hours… More
Abstract: This article argues that in the global North a successful path to sustainability will entail a stabilization of consumption through reductions in hours of work, a solution that neither ecologists nor economists have addressed seriously. The article presents data on the slowdown of hours reductions in many countries and discusses the need for policy intervention to counter firm-level disincentives to reducing hours of work. It then discusses the potential popularity of work-hour reductions with consumers. It ends with an argument that technological changes will be insufficient to achieve sustainable consumption patterns and that averting continued increases in the scale of consumption through trading income for time is imperative.
- 46. Schot, Johan and Frank W. Geels. “Strategic Night Management and Sustainable Innovation Journeys: Theory, Findings, Research Agenda, and Policy,” Technology Analysis and Strategic Management 20, no. 5 (2008): 537 – 554.
Abstract: This article discusses empirical findings and conceptual elaborations of the last 10 years in strategic niche management research (SNM). The SNM approach suggests that sustainable innovation journeys can be facilitated by creating technological niches, i.e. protected spaces that allow the… More
Abstract: This article discusses empirical findings and conceptual elaborations of the last 10 years in strategic niche management research (SNM). The SNM approach suggests that sustainable innovation journeys can be facilitated by creating technological niches, i.e. protected spaces that allow the experimentation with the co-evolution of technology, user practices, and regulatory structures. The assumption was that if such niches were constructed appropriately, they would act as building blocks for broader societal changes towards sustainable development. The article shows how concepts and ideas have evolved over time and new complexities were introduced. Research focused on the role of various niche-internal processes such as learning, networking, visioning and the relationship between local projects and global rule sets that guide actor behaviour. The empirical findings showed that the analysis of these niche-internal dimensions needed to be complemented with attention to niche external processes. In this respect, the multi-level perspective proved useful for contextualising SNM. This contextualisation led to modifications in claims about the dynamics of sustainable innovation journeys. Niches are to be perceived as crucial for bringing about regime shifts, but they cannot do this on their own. Linkages with ongoing external processes are also important. Although substantial insights have been gained, the SNM approach is still an unfinished research programme. We identify various promising research directions, as well as policy implications.
- 47. Schrödera, Carsten et al. Katrin Rehdanzb, Daiju Naritac, and Toshihiro Okubod. “The Decline in Average Family Size and its Implications for the Average Benefits of Within‐household Sharing,” Oxford Economic Papers 67, no. 3 (2015): 760 - 780. Accessed June 21, 2016, doi: 10.1093/oep/gpv033.
Abstract: Economic policies rely on demographic projections. Yet in making these projections, researchers often ignore the aspect of household formation—despite sustained trends in many industrialized countries towards smaller household units with fewer members. Over the long term, this trend is… More
Abstract: Economic policies rely on demographic projections. Yet in making these projections, researchers often ignore the aspect of household formation—despite sustained trends in many industrialized countries towards smaller household units with fewer members. Over the long term, this trend is likely to reduce the benefits of sharing goods/services within households (household economies of scale) at the micro-level, thereby increasing household-sector demand at the macro level. We propose a framework to (a) quantify the level of household economies of scale for different household types and (b) assess how the decline in average household size impacts aggregate household-sector demand. We apply the framework to energy consumption in Japan. The application indicates that household economies of scale in energy use are substantial and that the 5% decline in average household size in Japan between 2005 and 2010 led to an economy-wide loss in household economies of scale amounting to almost 4%.
- 48. Seyfang Gill. “Ecological Citizenship and Sustainable Consumption: Examining Local Food Networks,” Journal of Rural Studies 22, no. 4 (2006): 383 – 395.
Abstract: Sustainable consumption is gaining in currency as a new environmental policy objective. This paper presents new research findings from a mixed-method empirical study of a local organic food network to interrogate the theories of both sustainable consumption and ecological citizenship. It… More
Abstract: Sustainable consumption is gaining in currency as a new environmental policy objective. This paper presents new research findings from a mixed-method empirical study of a local organic food network to interrogate the theories of both sustainable consumption and ecological citizenship. It describes a mainstream policy model of sustainable consumption, and contrasts this with an alternative model derived from green or ‘new economics’ theories. Then the role of localised, organic food networks is discussed to locate them within the alternative model. It then tests the hypothesis that ecological citizenship is a driving force for ‘alternative’ sustainable consumption, via expression through consumer behaviour such as purchasing local organic food. The empirical study found that both the organisation and their consumers were expressing ecological citizenship values in their activities in a number of clearly identifiable ways, and that the initiative was actively promoting the growth of ecological citizenship, as well as providing a meaningful social context for its expression. Furthermore, the initiative was able to overcome the structural limitations of mainstream sustainable consumption practices. Thus, the initiative was found to be a valuable tool for practising alternative sustainable consumption. The paper concludes with a discussion of how ecological citizenship may be a powerful motivating force for sustainable consumption behaviour, and the policy and research implications of this.
- 49. Seyfang, Gill and Noel Longhurst. “Desperately Seeking Niches: Grassroots Innovations and Niche Development in the Community Currency Field,” Global Environmental Change 23, no. 5 (2013): 881 – 891. Accessed June 22, 2016, doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2013.02.007.
Abstract: The sustainability transitions literature seeks to explain the conditions under which technological innovations can diffuse and disrupt existing socio-technical systems through the successful scaling up of experimental ‘niches’; but recent research on ‘grassroots innovations’ argues… More
Abstract: The sustainability transitions literature seeks to explain the conditions under which technological innovations can diffuse and disrupt existing socio-technical systems through the successful scaling up of experimental ‘niches’; but recent research on ‘grassroots innovations’ argues that civil society is a promising but under-researched site of innovation for sustainability, albeit one with very different characteristics to the market-based innovation normally considered in the literature. This paper aims to address that research gap by exploring the relevance of niche development theories in a civil society context. To do this, we examine a growing grassroots innovation – the international field of community currencies – which comprises a range of new socio- technical configurations of systems of exchange which have emerged from civil society over the last 30 years, intended to provide more environmentally and socially sustainable forms of money and finance. We draw on new empirical research from an international study of these initiatives comprising primary and secondary data and documentary sources, elite interviews and participant observation in the field. We describe the global diffusion of community currencies, and then conduct a niche analysis to evaluate the utility of niche theories for explaining the development of the community currency movement. We find that some niche- building processes identified in the existing literature are relevant in a grassroots context: the importance of building networks, managing expectations and the significance of external ‘landscape’ pressures, particularly at the level of national-type. However, our findings suggest that existing theories do not fully capture the complexity of this type of innovation: we find a diverse field addressing a range of societal systems (money, welfare, education, health, consumerism), and showing increasing fragmentation (as opposed to consolidation and standardisation); furthermore, there is little evidence of formalised learning taking place but this has not hampered movement growth. We conclude that grassroots innovations develop and diffuse in quite different ways to conventional innovations, and that niche theories require adaptation to the civil society context.
- 50. Sirianni, Carmen and Negrey, Cynthia. “Working Time as Gendered Time,” Feminist Economics 6, no. 1 (2000): 59 – 76, doi: 10.1080/135457000337679.
Abstract: Household- labor time and market-labor time are organized in part through the social structure of unequal gender relations. Generally, women do more house- hold work than men, women’s market work is undervalued, and the greatest rewards for market work accrue to men. The career model of… More
Abstract: Household- labor time and market-labor time are organized in part through the social structure of unequal gender relations. Generally, women do more house- hold work than men, women’s market work is undervalued, and the greatest rewards for market work accrue to men. The career model of employment is biased in favor of men who have few household responsibilities. Even noncar- eer seniority-sensitive job paths assume male incumbency with limited competition from household responsibilities. In this article we discuss the gendered underpinnings of the organization of time in contemporar y Western society by critically examining household-labor time and the masculine models of career and noncareer employment. In addition to the important feminist goal of pay equity, we argue for a feminist politics of time that promotes alternative worktime arrangements for women and men to foster gender equality in the market and at home.
- 51. States News Service. “Sharing the Waste, Sharing the Wealth: Uruguay Uses the Law to Catalyze the Transition to an Inclusive Green Economy.” Last modified March 30, 2016.
- 52. Stokes, Kathleen et al. Emma Clarence, Lauren Anderson, April Rinne. “Making Sense of the UK Collaborative Economy” (2014)
- 53. Susse, George. “The Social Shaping of Household Consumption,” Ecological Economics 28 (1999): 455 – 466.
Abstract: This paper deals with a recurrent theme in the sustainability debate: the necessity of changing Western consumption patterns and ‘lifestyles’. Unlike most accounts, in which the principle mechanisms for ensuring this are ‘top-down’ approaches of government policies, this paper focuses… More
Abstract: This paper deals with a recurrent theme in the sustainability debate: the necessity of changing Western consumption patterns and ‘lifestyles’. Unlike most accounts, in which the principle mechanisms for ensuring this are ‘top-down’ approaches of government policies, this paper focuses on the ‘bottom-up’ approaches of citizens seeking to develop less environmentally damaging technologies and ways of living. The paper examines three Scandinavian examples to illustrate how citizens are voluntarily seeking to internalise some of the externalities of everyday life and provide the collective good of improved environmental quality. The paper discusses the importance of social relations in the shaping of people’s preferences for environmental goods. The paper draws out what lessons can be learned from these initiatives and focuses on three factors affecting the future growth and proliferation of citizen-led initiatives: upscaling, the transferability of social experiments and the pervasive societal commitments to unsustainable behaviour.
- 54. The Economist, “The Rise of the Sharing Economy,” 7 March 2013
- 55. The People Who Share. “What is the Sharing Economy?” last modified April 25, 2016. Accessed June 22, 2016
- 56. Tijdens, Kea G. “Gender Roles and Labor Use Strategies: Women's Part-time Work in the European Union,” Feminist Economics 8, no. 1 (2002): 71–99.
Abstract: What is the nature of female part-time employment in the European Union? Using data from the Second European Survey on Working Conditions , the author seeks to address this question. The paper examines four regimes of part-time employment. The gender-roles model, which assumes that women… More
Abstract: What is the nature of female part-time employment in the European Union? Using data from the Second European Survey on Working Conditions , the author seeks to address this question. The paper examines four regimes of part-time employment. The gender-roles model, which assumes that women work part-time because they are secondary earners or have children at home, ranks first as a predictor of the likelihood that a woman will work part-time. In the responsive firms model, which ranks second in explanatory power, part-time work is primarily seen as the firms' response to workers' demands for fewer working hours. The optimal staffing model assumes that employers will create part-time jobs as a response to the demand for time-related services; it ranks third in explanatory power. Finally, the secondary- labor market model, which assumes job insecurity, poor wages, and poor working conditions, ranks fourth in predicting whether a woman will work part- or full-time.
- 57. Viitanen, Jenni and Richard Kingston. “Smart Cities and Green Growth: Outsourcing Democratic and Environmental Resilience to the Global Technology Sector,” Environment and Planning 46 (2014): 803–819.
Abstract: Climate change and advances in urban technology propel forward the ‘smart city’. As decision makers strive to find a technological fix, smart city strategies are often based on technological orthodoxies which are conceptually and empirically shallow. The motivation behind this paper… More
Abstract: Climate change and advances in urban technology propel forward the ‘smart city’. As decision makers strive to find a technological fix, smart city strategies are often based on technological orthodoxies which are conceptually and empirically shallow. The motivation behind this paper is to address the conceptual adolescence which relates to the wholesale digitisation of the city by pursuing a twin argument about the democratic and environmental consequences. The authors draw on interdisciplinary theory and insights from urban studies, infrastructure, informatics, and the sociology of the Internet to critique the way the ‘smart city’ is taken forward. It is concluded that private firms market smart city services and solutions based on an ideological legacy of ‘ubiquitous computing’, ‘universal infrastructure’, and ‘green technology’. Based on evidence from three UK cities—Manchester, Birmingham, and Glasgow—it is argued that the underlying principle of future city strategies is to expand the market for new technology products and services to support ‘green growth’ with disregard for their wider impacts. For citizens, becoming a consumer of the technologies is often presented as progressive ‘participation’ or ‘empowerment’ with unknown or hidden consequences both political and environmental. The city systems become a digital marketplace where citizen-consumers’ participation is increasingly involuntary and the hegemony of global technology firms is inflated. What follows is that the city’s ‘intelligent systems’ are defined through a digital consumer experience that has inherent biases and leaves parts of the city and its population unaccounted for. This renders the city less resilient in the face of future social and climatic risks.
- 58. Walsh, Bryan. “10 Ideas that Will Change the World,” Time Magazine, 17 March 2011
- 59. Walter, Gerald R. “Economics, Ecology-based Communities, and Sustainability,” Ecological Economics 42, no. 1 – 2 (2002): 81 – 87. Accessed June 22, 2016. doi:10.1016/S0921-8009(02)00048-4.
Abstract: This paper comments on the inadequacy of orthodox economics when communities perceive themselves as ecology-based, that is, when they recognize that their livelihood depends upon living natural resources. Not surprisingly, an economics largely developed in the context of a-spatial, a-natural… More
Abstract: This paper comments on the inadequacy of orthodox economics when communities perceive themselves as ecology-based, that is, when they recognize that their livelihood depends upon living natural resources. Not surprisingly, an economics largely developed in the context of a-spatial, a-natural industrialization and designed to serve the interests, policies, and tools of the nation state is inadequate when addressing communities within the context of their regions and ecological systems. The author suggests that a sustainability economics is needed and that its character can be better focused if based on a local and regional ecosystem perspective. The critique is relevant to general economic praxis because all economies depend upon natural processes and all economic actors are socialized within communities. An approach to development of a sustainability economics is suggested.
- 60. Witkamp Marten J. et al. Raven R P, Royakkers L M M, 2011, “Strategic Niche Management of Social Innovations: The Case of Social Entrepreneurship” Technology Analysis and Strategic Management 23 667 – 681.
Abstract: Strategic niche management (SNM), a tool to understand and manage radical socio- technical innovations and facilitate their diffusion, has always departed from a technical artefact. Many radical innovations, however, do not revolve around such an artefact. Social entrepreneurship is a new… More
Abstract: Strategic niche management (SNM), a tool to understand and manage radical socio- technical innovations and facilitate their diffusion, has always departed from a technical artefact. Many radical innovations, however, do not revolve around such an artefact. Social entrepreneurship is a new business model that combines a social goal with a business mentality and is heralded as an important new way to create social value such as sustainability. This study examines if and how SNM can be applied to such a social innovation. It identifies theoretical and practical limitations and proposes solutions. The main conclusion is that SNM can be used to analyse radical social innovation, although it requires rethinking the initial entry point for research and management. Exemplifying quotes are proposed as an alternative. Second, this paper suggests using values to describe niche-regime interaction as a better way to anticipate future niche-regime interactions.
- 61. Zwick, Klara et al. Franziska Disslbacher, Sigrid Stagl. “Work-sharing for a sustainable economy,” Ecological Economics 121 (2016): 246 - 253. Accessed June 21, 2016, doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2015.06.009.
Abstract: Achieving low unemployment in an environment of weak growth is a major policy challenge; a more egalitarian distribution of hours worked could be the key to solving it. Whether work-sharing actually increases employment, however, has been debated controversially. In this article we present… More
Abstract: Achieving low unemployment in an environment of weak growth is a major policy challenge; a more egalitarian distribution of hours worked could be the key to solving it. Whether work-sharing actually increases employment, however, has been debated controversially. In this article we present stylized facts on the distribution of hours worked and discuss the role of work-sharing for a sustainable economy. Building on recent developments in labor market theory we review the determinants of working long hours and its effect on well-being. Finally, we survey work- sharing reforms in the past. While there seems to be a consensus that work-sharing in the Great Depression in the U.S. and in the Great Recession in Europe was successful in reducing employment losses, perceptions of the work-sharing reforms implemented between the 1980s and early 2000s are more ambivalent. However, even the most critical evaluations of these reforms provide no credible evidence of negative employment effects; instead, the overall success of the policy seems to depend on the economic and institutional setting, as well as the specific details of its implementation.