[LUM#2] Is society heading toward "uberization"?
Digital technology is truly changing your daily life. But perhaps not in the way you imagined. Welcome to a world whose contours are still unclear: the world of the sharing economy.
5:00 p.m. In a few minutes, it will be time to leave the office. But your workday is far from over. Around the corner, a notification on your smartphone tells you that two high school students are waiting for you at the next traffic light for a quick ride-share, organized on the fly via a geolocation-based ride-sharing platform. Back home, you check your Airbnb account: your daughter’s room—she’s on vacation abroad—has indeed found a guest for tonight. 8:30 p.m. Before collapsing onto your monthly-rented sofa, you double-check the details of your morning route, which will take you on your way to work to three of your neighbors who’ve been lured by the beef bourguignon simmering quietly in your kitchen.
Open sharing and business acumen
Driven by the explosion of mobile internet, the widespread adoption of digital technology is paving the way for new forms of interpersonal relationships. Emerging from this shift is a fundamentally flexible society, composed of hybrid citizens who are simultaneously consumers and producers, employees and independent contractors. A symbol of this new reality: Uber. In just a few years, the Silicon Valley startup has become the standard-bearer for these new giants, skillfully combining the ideology of free sharing with a formidable business acumen. After establishing itself by connecting drivers with individuals, Uber now aims to extend this model to the entire spectrum of services. What is Uber’s business? Anticipating and mapping needs, and turning everyone into a potential customer or employee. More than just a service, it is a model for society—to the point that some no longer hesitate to speak of a true “uberization.”
As a professor in the School of Economics and a keen observer of the rise of the so-called “sharing economy,” Michel Garrabé urges caution regarding a catch-all term that tends to lump together two diametrically opposed models: “We must clearly distinguish , on the one hand, a truly collaborative, non-market economy—like Wikipedia, conceived as a space where people organize to create a common good—and, on the other hand, companies in the traditional market economy, such as Uber or Airbnb, which have shareholders and aim to maximize their profits , ” analyzes this specialist in the social economy.
Nomadic and horizontal
In the wake of Uber, Airbnb, and the French company BlaBlaCar, there are countless startups riding the wave of a nomadic, horizontal economy that tends to replace the concept of ownership with that of usage. From healthcare to transportation, housing to banking, no sector seems likely to be spared. This revolution is not without its share of resistance: some cry foul over unfair competition—as seen in the taxi drivers’ revolt against Uber—while others warn of the risk of a rise in self-employment against a backdrop of widespread job insecurity… On the side of the sharing economy’s players, there is no shortage of well-intentioned arguments: optimization of resources and reduction of environmental costs, as seen with car-sharing; creation of value in saturated markets such as tourist housing in Paris… Above all, the sharing economy would allow everyone to supplement their income, in a context marked by mass unemployment and the erosion of purchasing power.
New Deal
There remains the particularly sensitive issue of the status of workers in an ecosystem that is still poorly defined. For Paul-Henri Antonmattei, the rise of Uber and similar companies is merely a manifestation of a fundamental trend that makes it essential to rethink a legislative framework that is now outdated: “Labor law was built on a single model—that of the factory. Unity of time, unity of place, unity of action, strong employer power… Yet this model is no longer that ofthe 21st century.” According to this labor law specialist, a member of the Combrexelle Commission tasked by the government with considering labor law reform, the solution lies in developing new tools such as company-level collective bargaining. “A solution allowing for greater adaptability of the rules to the diversity of companies, as well as to the diversity of employee profiles and career paths , ” he explains . Is the Labor Code ready for the closet? “The law certainly has a role to play, and we must maintain a common legal framework, but it is now impossible to respond with a single, general, impersonal, and permanent standard.” In search of the famous “flexicurity”—that delicate balance between employee protection and labor market flexibility. “A true economic and social New Deal and a formidable challenge,” sums up the law professor.
Toward "flexisolidarity"?
For Michel Garrabé, the dangers of “uberization” are very real, especially for those who choose to make it their primary source of income: “We see people working 10 hours a day for less than the minimum wage,” notes the economist. A view shared by Paul-Henri Antonmattei: “The Uber system cannot become a model for society because it remains a stopgap, a make-do economy. We certainly cannot wish for a young person to work 45 years in this manner…” Other issues remain unresolved, such as the taxation of companies quick to shift profits earned domestically to countries with favorable tax regimes. “We are still in a pre-institutional phase regarding these issues, but establishing a regulatory mechanism is essential,” confirms Michel Garrabé. The future of the sharing economy therefore remains to be shaped. And it could hold a few surprises. In his book *The Zero Marginal Cost Society*, published in 2014, American economist Jeremy Rifkin envisions an alternative path: one in which workers band together in cooperatives to develop their own networking platforms, contributing to a truly equitable redistribution of profits. Or when technology, combined with the market economy, realizes Karl Marx’s dream.
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