Back Συνεταιριστική Πλατφόρμα Greek Plataforma cooperativa Spanish Alustaosuuskunta Finnish Plateforme coopérative French Koperasi anjungan ID Piattaforma cooperativa Italian Plataforma cooperativa Portuguese
A platform cooperative, or platform co-op, is a cooperatively owned, democratically governed business that establishes a two-sided market via a computing platform, website, mobile app or a protocol to facilitate the sale of goods and services. Platform cooperatives are an alternative to venture capital-funded platforms insofar as they are owned and governed by those who depend on them most—workers, users, and other relevant stakeholders.
Platform Cooperativism is an intellectual framework and movement which advocates for the global development of platform cooperatives. Its advocates object to the techno-solutionist claim that technology is, by default, the answer to all social problems.[1][2][3] Rather, proponents of the movement claim that ethical commitments such as the building of the global commons, support of inventive unions, and promotion of ecological and social sustainability as well as social justice, are necessary to shape an equitable and fair social economy.[4] Platform cooperativism advocates for the coexistence of cooperatively owned business models and traditional, extractive models with the goal of a more diversified digital labor landscape respecting fair working conditions.[5]
Platform cooperativism is not exactly about digital disintermediation, since a coop, which is a legally constituted moral entity, owns the digital platform. It is different from platform corporations like Uber, in that the governance of the digital platform is democratic. There are some similarities with the peer-to-peer production movement, influenced by Michel Bauwens and the P2P Foundation,[6] which advocates for "new kinds of democratic and economic participation"[7] as far as it is concerned with "the free participation of equal partners, engaged in the production of common resources". Economically and institutionally it is more distant from the radically distributed, non-market mechanisms of commons-based peer production promoted by Yochai Benkler.,[8] although they share some ethical considerations. Marjorie Kelly's book Owning Our Future contributed the distinction between democratic and extractive ownership design to this discussion.[9]
While platform cooperatives are structured as cooperatives, granting democratic control to workers, customers, users, or other key stakeholders, companies and initiatives that support the ecosystem of the cooperative platform economy are considered a part of the platform cooperativism movement insofar as they attempt to encourage, develop, and sustain its development. It has also been argued that, as the spread of platform cooperativism "will require a different kind of ecosystem—with appropriate forms of finance, law, policy, and culture—to support the development of democratic online enterprises".[10]
- ^ Scholz, Trebor (5 April 2015). "Think Outside the Boss: Cooperative Alternatives to the Sharing Economy". Public Seminar. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
- ^ Schneider, Nathan (7 December 2016). "An Internet of ownership: democratic design for the online economy". The Internet of Ownership. Archived from the original on 6 December 2016. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
- ^ O'Dwyer, Rachel (2016). Scholz, Trebor; Schneider, Nathan (eds.). Ours To Hack and Own: The Rise of Platform Cooperativism, a New Vision for the Future of Work and a Fairer Internet. New York: OR Books. p. 237.
- ^ "Mission". Platform Cooperativism Consortium. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
- ^ Scholz, Trebor (2016). Uberworked and Underpaid: How Workers Are Disrupting the Digital Economy. New York City: Polity. Part II.
- ^ "P2P Foundation". P2P Foundation. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
- ^ "Our Story". P2P Foundation. Archived from the original on 7 February 2018. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
- ^ Scholz, Trebor (5 December 2014). "Platform Cooperativism vs. the Sharing Economy". Medium. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
- ^ Kelly, Marjorie (2012). Owning Our Future. Berrett-Koehler Publishers. ISBN 978-1605093109.
- ^ Schneider, Nathan; Scholz, Trebor (2016). "Introduction". In Scholz, Trebor; Schneider, Nathan (eds.). Ours To Hack and Own: The Rise of Platform Cooperativism, a New Vision for the Future of Work and a Fairer Internet. New York: OR Books.