La ricchezza della sharing economy

In contemporary Western societies, as Bourdieu had already clearly stated, capital can not be limited to the economic dimension because it embraces other aspects. Likewise, wealth and also poverty do not depend only by the availability of money but involve areas of experience traditionally excluded from economic calculation and financial exchanges. The article shows how, in the manifold universe of sharing economy, some experiences arise and can generate value (and in some cases also economic profits) starting from what today people most need: relationships, recognition of capacity and knowledge not always appreciated by the labor market, re-occupation of the local space, leisure time, safety, creativity. All these aspects are real forms of wealth, which are circulated thanks to the digital platforms studied in the research presented here, and prefigure a future in which the economic logic should include other dimensions traditionally left on the fringes of market exchanges.