Understanding the world · Economy & society

How have Uber and Airbnb changed work and cities?

Uber has never owned a single car, and it still turned transport upside down all over the world.

Capitalism without factories3 min read5 partsQuiz of 9 questions
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SeichanGant · Labor Strike at Rutgers University 84 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Part 1 of 5 · freeIntroduction

Uber, Airbnb, Amazon and Deliveroo belong to a new kind of company: the digital platform. They do not simply put existing services online. They change what it means to own, to work and to be protected.

This model has invented a new form of capitalism, one that puts our social contract in question. Let us look at how it works, and why it causes so much argument.

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  1. 2Capitalism without factories or employees
  2. 3Work without the protections of employment
  3. 4Cities turned upside down
  4. 5Toward a new status for workers?
Open-book quiz9 questions whose answers are in the text.
Glossary13 terms explained in a tap.
30 languagesThe same course, from French to Japanese.