Mutualism: a model for managing risk in P2P sharing

Abstract This article explores how the risk structure currently adopted by the sharing economy, in particular the highly formalised and contrived systems of contract constructed by platforms, is largely constituted by the rules of property law. This effectively ties sharing activities to the old model of private property and its accompanying boundaries of privatised risk and value and undermines the efforts of collaboration to supersede those boundaries through peer-to-peer co-production of value. This article aims towards presenting an alternative model of risk distribution for the sharing economy that is more reflective of its collaborative nature. To this end, I will draw on ideas from commons and mutualism and propose the possibility of creative use of contracts to stipulate positive duties and obligations between collaborative partners as a device to construct a collective and/or mutual risk system.