Values of Exchange, Values of Sharing: The Ambivalence of Economic Weltbeziehungen, explained for the example of Carsharing

This comparison of different economic practices illustrates that sharing and private property are not at all mutually exclusive, that sharing is not per se an alternative to property. But sharing is not simply an extension of private property or practices of exchange either. Some sharing practices, like car-sharing, limit the power of private property: they preserve the use-value-promises of private cars (flexibility and independence) without allowing private property to proliferate into profit-oriented exchange value and consumer fetishism (where the car turns into a symbol of distinction and status, and a sacred cow of economic policy). In order to grasp the differences, it is central to differentiate property structures involved in practices of sharing and their effects on the Weltbeziehungen of the users.