Autoethnography of a personal and conceptual trip: from the Sharing Economy to platform capitalism

Abstract

The following text is a response to the initiative to try to explain, from a personal perspective, some of the important aspects that influence the process of producing a doctoral thesis. Using the genre of autoethnography for its writing, it explains some of the changes experienced, both on a personal level and from a conceptual point of view, throughout the course of the research that ultimately leads to the doctoral thesis. This is done from the privileged vantage point afforded by the passage of time, as well as the fulfilment of some of the objectives that were not even initially contemplated as feasible. Although they are not mentioned by name and surname, this is a process that is influenced by a large number of people, from professors who are also friends today, to colleagues from whom one learns along the way, as well as support from outside the academy, which is fundamental. This is why the thesis can be considered a social process that is embodied in a specific way in the person who signs it. A little of all this is what we will try to explain in the following lines.