Discussion: Is sharing economy a positive trend?

Exam question 3 requires you to discuss whether the sharing economy is a positive trend, taking your starting point in text 3, “Uber and the ‘sharing economy' are leaps into the past, not the future”.

Text 3 is an opinion article written in 2015 by Mary Dejevsky for the British newspaper The Independent. 

The article presents sharing economy based on the example of the car driving service, Uber, which has raised the fare prices during “a Tube strike” (l. 26).

Sharing economy as a negative trend

Mary Dejevsky’s main intention with the article is to show that sharing economy is a negative, regressive trend or, as she puts it, “the return of the bazaar in the internet age; a leap into the past, not the future” (ll. 85-86).

According to the author, sharing economy can only be seen as a positive trend by those who are relatively well-off, middle to upper class: “The chief beneficiaries will be the relatively well off, who are simply paying less for the same services they used before.” (ll. 52-55)

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For and against arguments

Valid arguments for the sharing economy being a positive trend are available in texts 1 and 2, which claim that the sharing economy helps small businesses (text 1), and also that it is not only about money, but about building trust and social connections: “…key things these companies create is social capital” (p. 2, ll. 31-32); “But, sharing proponents say, it’s not about money. It’s about making connections and about finding real people, which is important when you travel.” (p. 3, ll. 20-24)

To help you form your opinion on the topic, we advise you to also reflect on the following questions:

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