TY - JOUR AU - Cansoy, Mehmet AU - Eddy, Samantha AU - Ladegaard, Isak AU - Schor, Juliet B. PY - 2020/01/01 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Homines Diversi: Heterogeneous Earner Behaviors in the Platform Economy JF - Sociologica JA - S-IJSD VL - 14 IS - 3 SE - Essays DO - 10.6092/issn.1971-8853/11508 UR - https://sociologica.unibo.it/article/view/11508 SP - 143-165 AB - The platform economy has entered its second decade, and researchers are developing new theorizations of it as an economic form. One important feature is a heterogeneous labor force with respect to hours of work. In this paper, we identify another type of heterogeneity, which is the diversity of economic orientation of earners. Using in-depth interview data from 102 earners on three platforms (Airbnb, TaskRabbit, and StocksyUnited) we find that even within individual platforms, earners have different behavioral models. We have identified three — the maximizing homo economicus; sociologists’ relational homo socialis; and homo instrumentalis. We present evidence of these three types. We then discuss platform policies and how earner diversity aligns with their imperatives for growth.     ER -