Social welfare in technologically networked economy: Sharing economy example

Abstract

The main aim of this article is to examine the real and potential impact of sharing economy, as an example of a technologically networked form of entrepreneurship (or more broadly – activities), on social welfare, understood as a form of satisfying material and non-material needs of the society. In order to be able to do so, it is necessary to define the very phenomenon of sharing economy, which, although very popular in recent times, causes many theoretical problems, leading to a number of misunderstandings. The concept of a technologically networked economy (TNE), a conceptual heuristic proposal, will serve as an interpretative framework for this undertaking. On the other hand, the concept of social welfare will be presented from the perspective of welfare sociology (Baranowski 2017).