Juliet B. Schor on the Sharing Economy

My conversation with Juliet explores what is called the sharing economy. Uber, Lyft, and Airbnb have transformed the economy and reshaped what it means to work. We discuss her book After The Gig: How the Sharing Economy got Hijacked and How to Win it Back. It explores the impacts of these platforms on society. The discussion delves into topics like race, class, and the ways good intentions so often produce the wrong results.

This is not necessarily an episode about politics. But my blog has long explored economics, sociology, and other disciplines to better understand different aspects of democracy. Platforms like Uber and Airbnb are not simply organizations. They have become institutions that change our relationships to work and each other. Juliet and I never explicitly discuss democracy, but I have long argued any change in institutions has repercussions on democracy.

Juliet Schor is a New York Times-bestselling author. She is currently Professor of Sociology at Boston College. Before joining Boston College she taught in the Department of Economics at Harvard University. Schor is an internationally known scholar of labor, consumption, and environment. She is a former Guggenheim and Radcliffe Institute Fellow, recipient of the Leontief Prize in Economics, and the Public Understanding of Sociology Award from the American Sociology Association. She is the Chair of the Board of the Better Future Project.

Thanks to Apes of the State for permission to use their tracks "The Internet Song" and "Plate Glass Apology. You can find their music on Spotify or their Bandcamp. Thanks to Brianne Kane who took the time to introduce me to Juliet.

Please visit my blog at www.democracyparadox.com. I have written 70 reviews of both classic and contemporary works of political science with an emphasis on democracy. This week I reviewed Niccolò Machiavelli's Discourses on Livy. Please visit the website and read my book reviews. And don't forget to subscribe to keep up with future episodes.

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