Earlier this month, we did a basic overview piece on how millennials are using a sharing economy to change (in hopefully good ways) the consumer economy and fight back in the face of addictive consumerism. If you look at all of the ways in which the current generation is taking a stand – knowingly or not – against consumerism, the sharing economy likely has the biggest potential to make a long term impact (even though many of its biggest companies are “sharewashing” private profits rather than functioning as platform coops). In fact, in many ways, it already is. We think it’s so important that we believe it’s worth taking an even closer look at in a second article devoted entirely to it. So we are!
Uh…The Sharing Economy, What?
You may be surprised how many people we’ve run into who have no idea what the sharing economy is! That’s likely because it’s being almost entirely utilized by the millennial generation. According to the best definition Google could find, which is from TechTarget, the sharing economy (also known as collaborative consumption) is a trending business concept that highlights the ability (and perhaps preference) for individuals to rent or borrow goods rather than buy or own them. We don’t need to tell you that in the Postconsumers office we love anything that says people don’t want to buy or own! Still confused? Some examples may help. On a large scale, Zipcar is probably among the most famous. Users pay for access to a car only when they need it rather than investing in owning and maintaining one or paying rental fees on a use-by-use basis. Another example you may be familiar with is Rent the Runway, where users “rent” high end clothes and then return them rather than purchase them.
What Drove the Development of the Sharing Economy?
This will depend on who you ask! There’s certainly an idealistic segment of people who simply believe that the millennial generation is more eco-conscious and less inclined to define life by “stuff” than previous generations. There’s also a more practical segment that says the reality of things like a poor economy, a nomadic lifestyle and a longer pathway to “accepted adulthood” is behind the sharing economy. Some people would cite increased tendencies toward urban living, where space and cost are both factors toward ownership. We think it’s all of these things, but we also believe that if you want a real answer to why something appeals to a demographic, you ask a marketer. We think the best explanation of why the sharing economy is so popular with millennials comes from this interview posted on Medium. The interview is with a marketer who works for a ride sharing company who also happens to be a millennial. Her explanation feels spot on to us. She says, “The sharing economy has a certain… sex appeal to millennials. I mean, what could be better than 24/7 access to abundant resources without contract or commitment? I think us millennials like to take a minimalist approach when it comes to the structure of our livelihood and the shared economy offers the diversity of products and services we crave. Plus, since young adults aren’t really settling down and buying property, community goods rather than private property seems much more appealing and plausible financially.”
How is the Sharing Economy Putting Distance Between Mass Consumerism and Society (Or Is It At All)?
This topic is even more hotly debated than the topic of what actually launched the sharing economy. We’ll start with the optimistic and positive view that the sharing economy truly is gaining ground on addictive consumerism. At a base level, addictive consumerism is about defining yourself by the “stuff” that you own. Similarly, at a base level, the sharing economy is about not owning stuff. If you just settle in and look at the core elements of consumerism and postconsumerism, the sharing economy supports one but not the other. When we cease to define ourselves by the ownership of “stuff,” we’ll have a clearer path to truly get satisfied. Many would argue that the millennial generation has a better grasp on how to find true happiness and satisfaction than previous generations have. We hope that’s true.
But there are naysayers, and in truth they have some valid points. The first point has been argued by economists and sociologists alike, but we think it’s best summarized in this article from Time. The article and its author argue that millennials aren’t embracing the sharing economy because they don’t value possessions and owning them but rather because they can’t own and possess things because of their slower rise to financial stability (due to the economy and student debt being at an all-time high). The argument is that, at some point, millennials will simply outgrow the sharing economy when they become more financially stable. We’ve certainly seen that happen with generations before (most notably the hippies). We like to think that by the time they reach financial stability millennials will have become so immersed in the sharing economy that they won’t alter their path, but we’re certainly open to the idea that we’re wrong. That’s why we continue to push forward with spreading our message.
The other argument (similar to the “sharewashing” in the first paragraph) is that the sharing economy is actually making millennials poorer. It’s been summed up in this post from The Daily Kos. We’re a little bit torn on this, because in some ways we agree with this quote from The Nation, “The sharing economy is a nice way for rapacious capitalists to monetize the desperation of people in the post-crisis economy while sounding generous, and to evoke a fantasy community in an antagonized society.” Take out the unnecessary fear-mongering, and you can’t deny that marketers, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists have all rushed into projects designed to make money from the sharing economy. They haven’t created these businesses and their subsequent marketing campaigns with the greater good in mind (at least in most cases). They have created them with the bottom line in mind. So while it may not be addictive consumerism, it may wind up to be just as destructive.
We don’t know! We certainly don’t have all of the answers. What we do know is that the sharing economy has the potential to – dare we say it – truly disrupt the mass consumer machine. Whether it does or not will be up to the generation that essentially invented it. And we choose to be hopeful about them!
Pro Tip: We think that this is the best article on the internet about this topic – but be warned that it is a long and dense read.
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Photo Credit: Andrew Currie via Flickr
