Library science

Context (archaeology)

Philosophy

Economic sociology

Biology

Computer security

Economics

Computer science

Sociological imagination

Sociological research

Paleontology

Political science

Epistemology

Sociology

Artificial intelligence

Economy

Positive economics

Subject (documents)

Perspective (graphical)

Sharing economy

Key (lock)

Social science

The Sociological Review

This essay introduces the subject and interpretative perspective of the monograph ‘Unboxing the Sharing Economy’, and is divided into three parts. The first part illustrates the evolution of the concept of the ‘sharing economy’ and the main analytical implications. The second part outlines the key findings of a systematic review of the literature, which indicates both that academic research on the sharing economy has expanded considerably since 2013, and that sociology’s contribution to this debate remains underdeveloped and somewhat incoherent. The final part both locates the contributions to the monograph in the context of other studies and summarizes its content.

Sharing what? The ‘sharing economy’ in the sociological debate