ABSTRACT
The emergence of the "sharing economy", a sprawling entity that ranges from local clothing swaps to the global rental platform Airbnb, has spawned a heated debate between proponents and critics. On the one hand, what we call the new sharing economy, also known as "collaborative consumption", is seen as a progressive, disruptive force that makes economies more efficient and distributes value to consumers. This chapter focuses on another set of issues that we believe will influence the trajectory of this sector: the cultural values and practices of platform participants. It turns to cultural analysis, which is centered on the idea of a specific "ecological" habitus that we find among our participants. The chapter describes that early participants in the sharing economy are located within the high cultural capital, lower economic capital (HCC/LEC) segment of the dominant class. It concludes with consideration of the sector's potential contribution to progressive, sustainable social change.
