Platforms in Liquid Modernity : Essays about the Sharing Economy, Digital Platforms, and Institutions

Abstract: The year 2020 feels like the beginning of a crescendo of change. As environmental and social challenges reach an all-time high, the organization of our societies is coming under scrutiny. We, as a society, turn to technology to reinvent the organization of social life after disruptive episodes. Inspired by Bauman's theorizing to describe the cultural and societal zeitgeist, this thesis explains the institutionalization of one of the most promising alternative forms of organization of the past decade: the sharing economy.Comprised of nine essays centered around three focal areas: (1) Organizational change, (2) Market change, and (3) Societal change, this thesis aims to explain the institutionalization of digital sharing platforms in liquid modern society.This thesis finds that digital sharing platforms act as societal organizers on several dimensions of “in-betweenness.” As this moment in time can also be characterized as a period of “interregnum”—another moment of in-betweenness—where old structures are continuously disrupted but no clear new path has emerged, digital platform providers fill a structural void in our highly individualized society. Digital platform providers use community as an anchor, a belief, and sets of practices to create an emerging (intermediary) institution around which different forms of organization manifest.Digital sharing platforms have, however, remained a grace note on systemic change: ornamental and practically non-essential. Still, digital platforms are setting new norms in all areas of organizational, market, and societal life. By evoking both elements of community and market, digital platforms are playing an important part in creating a symphony of our future societal order.