Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
A Dissertation
MSc Social Anthropology
2011-2012
Examination Number: B018970
Word count: 14,954
Abstract
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to:
My Advisor, Jacob Copeman, for his encouragement and, of course, his advice.
The CouchSurfers whom I have visited, met at activities, and accommodated.
My fiance, Julia, for being willing to go on a hosting binge with me.
Daniel Miller and Jennie Germann Molz for sharing their work with mewithout
their generosity, this dissertation would not have transpired as comprehensively
as it has.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract..........2
Acknowledgments................3
Table of Contents...4
Glossary......5
Preface: The Worlds Largest Social Network Goes Public....6
Introduction: Anthropology takes on The Digital......8
Chapter 1: About CouchSurfing....10
1.1 A Growing Body of Research...11
1.2 Couchsurfings Reputation System.13
1.3 Spirit of Adventure......15
Chapter 2: A Reformulation of the Human Economy....17
2.1 Beyond a Moral Economy.23
Chapter 3: Exchanging Hospitality for What Exactly?......26
3.1 Hospitality as a Code, Not a Gift.....29
3.2 Re-Imagining Hospitality...32
Chapter 4: Digitizing Social Capital......36
4.1 When Social Capital and Fiscal Capital Collide....39
Conclusion: Corporatizing CouchSurfing....41
References....48
Glossary
Cosmopolitanism - an openminded philosophy of welcoming strangers from
other cultures, appreciating their cultural differences, learning from those differences, and valuing those differences (Appiah 2006: xv; Germann Molz 2007: 70).
Couch Request - a digital request sent through CouchSurfing.org to inquire about
a potential accommodation with another member.
CouchSurf - the act of visiting a member of the CouchSurfing hospitality exchange network while traveling.
Hospitality Exchange Network - a formalized social network of travelers and
hosts who offer accommodation to one another (Kaefer 2007: 8).
Market logic - rationalizing all forms of exchange into a quantifiable calculus, for
which reciprocity is required to equalize transactions, thereby absolving debt.
Preface:
The Worlds Largest Social Network Goes Public
The usefulness of social networking websites has been debated for nearly
a decade now. Critics deride these websites as time wastersan online realm
where self-indulgent individuals can announce what they are eating for lunch or
their frustrations with traffic. Advocates of social media, however, revere this interactive platform as a revolutionary paradigm shift that enables consumers to
creatively engage with their interests (Shirky 2008). With Facebook becoming a
publicly traded company in recent months with an IPO (Initial Public Offering) of
$38 per share (Sengupta 2012), critiquing social media as a technological fade
seems condescending. However, the social networking companys subsequent
massive stock devaluation (Sengupta 2012) reiterates the position of Facebooks
critics, who question the value of not only the site but the medium as well.
ardized investors and investment organizations unlucky enough to have purchased shares early on, demonstrates certain financial consequences that capitalizing this social network caused (Sengupta 2012). If interest in the social network plummeted, Facebooks stock price would plummet as well. This correlation
between a business product or service and its profitability is conventional. However, with Facebook the service is primarily digitizing sociality. The unambiguous
Facebook as no longer relevant is difficult, if not impossible, because the interactive diversion it provides its users has become normal 1.
This refers to Miller and Horsts normative tenet for Digital Anthropology, which asserts that attempts to understand humanitys remarkable drive to render digital technologies mundane just as
these technologies create the conditions for change, are unviable without anthropology (2012: 3).
Ultimately, Anthropology is one of the few disciplines equipped to immerse itself in that process by
which digital culture becomes normative culture and to understand what this tells us about being
human (Miller and Horst 2012; 34).
Kareem Farooq, 2012
Introduction:
Anthropology takes on The Digital
the sub-discipline, Digital Anthropology, cements the notion that the online has
become an integral part of what it is to be (and to appreciate being) human. Rejecting the myopic assertions made by critics of the proliferation of digital distractions, Miller and Horst point out the hypocrisy of insisting that certain forms
of sociality are more authentic than others (2012: 13). Using the term pre-digital
to describe sociality before the rise of email and smartphones, the duo explain
why even in this age of hyper-communication, we are no more mediated than we
have always been:
We are not more mediated simply because we are not more cultural than we
were before. One of the reasons digital studies have often taken quite the opposite course, has been the continued use of the term virtual, with its implied contrast with the 'real. ...Every time we use the word real analytically, as opposed
to colloquially, we undermine the project of digital anthropology, fetishizing predigital culture as a site of retained authenticity (Miller and Horst 2012: 15).
Nathan Jurgenson reiterates and takes further this argument in his article, The
IRL [In Real Life] Fetish, pointing out that the offline is a recent invention:
There was and is no offline; it is a lusted-after fetish object that some claim special ability to attain, and it has always been a phantom [W]e live in an augmented reality that exists at the intersection of materiality and information, physicality and digitality, bodies and technology, atoms and bits, the off and the online What is most crucial to our time spent logged on is what happened when
logged off; it is the fuel that runs the engine of social media (Jurgenson 2012).
Jurgenson, Miller and Horst cite Sherry Turkle, author of Alone Together, as their
prime example of a social media critic. Her argument that devices distract us
from appreciating our surroundings or those around us fails to acknowledge how
these devices are used to share moments as well for instance, by uploading
photos to social networking sites (Miller and Horst 2012: 12-13). Also, as Jurgenson mentions, forgetting ones cellphone may trigger the recognition of a moments unique serenity due to the absence of technology a realization that
Kareem Farooq, 2012
would not occur were it not for the prevalence of digital devices (2012). By questioning this baseless nostalgia for the pre-digital, Jurgenson, Miller and Horst articulate a novel paradigm in human interaction and affiliation. The online communities we belong to blur the online/offline dichotomy, communicating preferences,
personality, associations, and desires not only to our digitally connected friends,
but to ourselves as well.
Chapter One:
About CouchSurfing
the earliest global incarnation being Servas Open Doors, which was founded in
1949. As a United Nations recognized non-governmental association, Servas
works to build understanding, tolerance and world peace by operating a network of hosts around the world who are interested in opening their doors to
travelerswho want to get to know the heart of the countries they visit (Servas/
Philosophy 2012). Unfortunately, the technical logistics (formal interviews are required for membership) and antiquated coordination (postal letters) of Servas
hampered the growth of the network (Marx 2012). The impact of the network remains limited to a niche body of individuals who actively pursued membership
(Marx 2012). Although the hospitality networks communication methods proved
to maintain its exclusivity, it also marginalized the spirit of its mission to build tolerance and peace. However, the idealism of Servaswhich means to serve in
Esperanto (Luitweiler 1999; 28)survives within more technology-reliant online
hospitality networks, including Global Freeloaders, Be Welcome, Tripping, Hospitality Club and CouchSurfingthe latter being by far the largest with 4.6 million
members worldwide2 .
2
The hospitality network with the next highest membership is HospitalityClub.org with just over
700,000 members (HospitalityClub/Statistics 2012). Additionally, the United States leads the world
in CouchSurfing members, and the next six highest membership nations are Germany, France,
Canada, England, Spain, and Italy (CS/Statistics 2012).
Kareem Farooq, 2012
10
entendre. On the one hand, it refers to the colloquial definition of banking on,
which means to depend on something, as in counting on or relying on the hospitality of the CouchSurfing community. On the other, it refers to the formal definition of banking, which involves investing with a financial institution. I plan to
demonstrate that the extraordinary success of CouchSurfing has derived from its
ability to influence its members behavior when interacting with one another. By
encouraging convivial behavior among strangers and prohibiting the impersonal
routines that derive from commercial transactions, CouchSurfing has created an
informal exchange system that I refer to as a neo-human economy, which I will
expand on later drawing upon David Graebers debt theory and other anthropological sources. The enthusiastic reception and implementation of this exchange
system by the CouchSurfing community reflects the normative tenet3 of Digital
Anthropology that Miller and Horst have developed. Paying particular attention to
the role of technology in facilitating trust between users and confidence in the
communitys mission, I suggest that by normalizing the communitys technological components, CouchSurfers overcome the skepticism of their non-member
friends and family, who cannot overlook the possible danger in accommodating
or visiting a stranger from the internet.
Over the past five years the unparalleled success of CouchSurfing has at-
tracted the attention of researchers who have investigated different aspects and
themes generated by the community such as trust (Rosen et. al 2011), reciprocity
(Adamic et. al 2011), spatial practice (Zuev 2011; Pultar and Raubal 2009),
authenticity (Bialski 2007, 2011; Steylaerts 2011; Chen 2011), and mobility (Germann Molz 2007, 2012a, 2012b). Recently the journal Hospitality and Society
published a special issue devoted to CouchSurfing, edited by Jennie Germann
Molz, a leader in the exploration of CouchSurfing. Writing as a social researcher
as well as an active member of CouchSurfing, her work demonstrates how the
network mobilizes conviviality by facilitating the transition from online communi3
11
cation to face-to-face interaction. Her work further illuminates how CouchSurfing replaces monetary exchange with more informal economies of trust and generosity (2012a: 89), thereby producing a neo-human economy, which I will
elaborate on in the next chapter. First, I will establish how the current body of research exemplifies how CouchSurfing.org influences its members behavior, encouraging them to embody the communitys cosmopolitan idealism of engaging
with strangers, by employing technical mechanisms designed to prevent abusive
users.
to each interaction, the implications and consequences of technologizing hospitality have become quite apparent. Perhaps the most unique aspect of a hospitality network compared with commercial hospitality is the obligation to engage
in face-to-face conversation. Paula Bialski articulates this custom as a form of
exchange to establish intimacy between the host and guest (2011: 254). Before
this conversation, the two parties may have briefly introduced themselves, the
host may give the guest a tour of the home and discuss their sleeping arrangements, and the guest may take a moment to decompress from the rigors of
travel. At some point, however, a discussion will arise over a cup of tea, dinner, or
during a stroll through town. It is at this point that the sociality unique to
CouchSurfing begins to unfold. Of course, before this conversation most of what
each member knows about the other is based on their CouchSurfing profile. Bialski notes that the profile helps (1) a guest or host to express who they are and
(2) allows the host or guest to discern if the given person will be someone they
want to interact with (2011: 257). Since first impressions have been established
online, certain expectations will be fulfilled or disturbed upon meeting in person.
Conversation then becomes a mechanism of rekindling those expectations so
that the awkwardness of unfamiliarity fades as trust develops. As Germann Molz
puts it, Through conversation, people who do not know each other can establish
a level of emotional intimacy that aligns better with the physical intimacy of
shared living space (2012a: 106). In addition to conversing and inhabiting a living
space together, the act of sharing a meal, drinking together, or going for a walk
with one another gives both the host and the guest personal experiences that
exemplify what CouchSurfing encounters are supposed to be about (Germann
12
This insight reflects the uncomfortable balance between exploitation and cultural
exchange, and the importance of compromising and establishing boundaries to
reduce the feeling (on either side) of imposition. Although safety remains a concern among members and non-members who are hesitant to trust in the kindness of strangers, the fear of social awkwardness is a more prevalent issue. Columnist Patricia Marx articulated this issue in a recent interview with National Public Radio regarding an article she wrote on CouchSurfing: Everybody I talked to,
and particularly my mother, didn't think I was safe, but I felt incredibly safe. I was
more worried about being incessantly sociable and extremely polite all the time
(Capriglione and Gunja 2012). Anyone uncomfortable with the thought of accommodating strangers or irritated with the thought of having to be sociable with
hosts while on vacation, will steer clear of CouchSurfinghopefully. Otherwise,
the referencing system may expose them as freeloaders or inhospitable hosts.
13
Murphy accurately describes how the reciprocity of this system encourages favorable ratings, as well as the nuanced significance of the supporting statement.
Marx substantiates Murphys description in a piece in the New Yorker:
The most helpful security information, however, is the references that hosts and
guests are encouraged to write about each other after every rendezvous. According to a 2010 study conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan
[(Adamic et al., 2011: 4)], the ratio of positive to negative evaluations is twentyfive hundred to one. Still, an astute reader can read between the lines in an assessment like Jack has an awesome collection of steak knives or He can put
out a fire really fast. Given these safeguards, it is unlikely that anyone on
CouchSurfing could get away with murder more than once. How comforting
(Marx 2012).
As Marx mentions, the vast majority of references on CouchSurfing.org are positive, yet the significance of the ratings lies in the descriptions accompanying
each reference and the ability to read between the lines. Therefore, despite the
overwhelming positivity of the references, the system effectively serves as a surveillance mechanism, policing the community by keeping out the troublemakers:
Reputation systems establish histories for members and make these accounts of
past actions visible to all other members. Future interactions can then be established based on these reports of past behaviour. This form of interpersonal surveillance within the online community disciplines members behaviour both online and offline, ensuring that individuals act properly as hosts or guests and
punishing them when they do not (Germann Molz 2007: 71).
14
CouchSurfing network to mitigate risk; verification and vouching are two other
security systems. In order to be vouched for, CouchSurfers can either stay with
someone who has already been vouched for or host someone who has been
vouched for (Germann Molz 2007: 72). This vouching system relies on a core
network of vouched for members, and once youve been vouched for by three of
these core members, you become a core member and can vouch for others (CS/
Vouching 2012). Verification is an option for members with a stable living situation, where for $25USD their identity is verified (Germann Molz 2007: 72). Each of
these security systems reflect the paradox of CouchSurfings idealistic mission of
spreading tolerance and creating a global communityby policing the community, these systems create a boundary, filtering out undesirables, thereby creating a closed community of open-minded and like-minded people (Germann
Molz 2007: 75). By networking like-minded strangers (Germann Molz 2012a:
94), CouchSurfing International generates a non-monetary system of exchange
that nurtures conviviality between these strangers.
15
16
Chapter Two:
A Reformulation of the Human Economy
I suggest that David Graebers (2011) seminal work on debt can help us to
17
change industry not only in terms of members, but also in name recognition. Like
Kleenex tissues or Hoover vacuums, as a brand CouchSurfing refers to more
than just the companyit refers to the practice of staying with locals while traveling, regardless of whether or not the connection was established through the
website. Brand recognition is a major component for most companies, and
CouchSurfings success reflects this. Because CouchSurfing maintains a competitive edge in the online hospitality exchange business, it has been able to attract financial investors, allowing it to expand its business operations, improve
the website, and create mobile applicationspractices that any successful technology company would emulate (Lacy 2011; Perlroth 2011; Wauters 2012; Lapowsky 2012). Despite CouchSurfing Internationals success in this capitalist
realm, the community that CouchSurfing.org has created thrives on communistic
ideals:
Hosts should never charge their CouchSurfers; anyone who does will be removed from the site. Most CouchSurfers do like to thank their host with a small
Kareem Farooq, 2012
18
gift or an act of kindness (such as cleaning the house or cooking a meal), but this
is not required and should not be requested by a host -- the only thing that's expected is an inspiring experience! (CS/Help 2012)
The site actively discourages hosts who attempt to charge for their accommodations by canceling their membership, thereby ensuring their members interact
without the tension or convenience that financial transactions entail. Awkward
tension still persists throughout the introductory moments when hosts and
strangers first meet; however, there are no financial obligations to worry about.
The only requirement is sociability. Guests are expected to be cordial and receptive. Hosts are, of course, expected to be hospitable. These sociable expectations elucidate how the website influences members behavior, requesting convivial and considerate interaction. Because the quantifiable repercussions of
capitalism are not present, the communistic demands of Graebers human economy take effect.
Graebers analysis of the role of money in the human economies that pre-
date market economies reveals how the acceptance of money eventually quantified and commodified the social values of the human economy:
In most human economies, money is used first and foremost to arrange marriages [Bridewealth] is really an acknowledgement that one is asking for something so uniquely valuable that payment of any sort would be impossible. The
only appropriate payment for the gift of a woman is the gift of another woman; in
the meantime, all one can do is acknowledge the outstanding debt (Graeber
2011: 131-132).
19
cant because dehumanization then becomes a crucial requirement for the market
economy, emphasizing profits and trivializing social solidarity. By now we are so
deeply familiar and engaged with this system that, I would argue, some of our
human instincts have been reprogrammed to identify and react to financial bargains and rip-offs rather than acknowledge the dehumanizing operations that this
system requires. Furthermore, the criminalization of slavery has marginalized its
practice to the point where mainstream notions of freedom now imply not having
to pay.
why the initial attraction toward a community like CouchSurfing derives from the
logic of saving money on accommodations. Even if one objects to capitalism, as
Graeber puts it, ...the logic of the marketplace has insinuated itself even into the
thinking of those who are most explicitly opposed to it (2011: 90). It is also for
this reason that Graeber criticizes Marcel Mauss essay on gift economies. Because economics has come to be treated as a master discipline, even the work
of Mauss, as brilliant as it is, insists that all gifts incur a debt:
Gifts circulate with the certainty that they will be reciprocated. Their surety
lies in the quality of the thing given, which is itself that surety. But in every possible form of society it is in the nature of the gift to impose an obligatory time limit
(Mauss 2002 [1923]: 45).
Graeber deflates this notion that all forms of exchange are governed by reciprocity by pointing out that children cannot repay all that their parents have given to
them (2011: 91-92). He also draws on Levi-Bruhls compilation of the experiences
of early missionaries in Africa, who reported peculiar encounters with natives
from different regions of the continent. Each encounter demonstrated the same,
bizarre logic: after saving the life of an indigenous man, rather than thanking his
rescuer, the man would ask for a gift from the missionary (Graeber 2011: 93).
Also, during his fieldwork with the Daribi in Papua New Guinea, Roy Wagner observed that symmetrical exchanges were forbidden because such equalizing
reciprocity would disrupt the very motion and vitality of the flow that makes life
worthwhile (2012: S171). For the Daribi, even exchanges obstruct the rhythmic
dynamic that keeps their reciprocal system in motion (Wagner 2012: S171).
These examples reveal moral components that are unique to their own situation
Kareem Farooq, 2012
20
and to the logic of individuals involved. Graeber suggests that economic relations
should, therefore, be framed from intrinsic moral principles, which he identifies as
communism, hierarchy, and exchange (2011: 94). Both human economies and
commercial economies possess these three moral principles because they always coexist everywhere. We are all communists with our closest friends, and
feudal lords when dealing with children (2011: 113-114). And so, only some
forms of human interaction may be described as exchange, not all. Exchange,
unlike hierarchy and communism, implies equality, but it also implies separation
because once an exchange is completed, the debt is cancelled equality is restored and both parties can walk away and have nothing further to do with each
other (Graeber 2011: 122; his emphasis). This reinforces why the Daribi forbid
symmetrical reciprocity: canceling debt terminates the sociality that transpires
through exchange, thus leaving them with nothing to talk about (Wagner 2012:
S171). Although elements of communism, hierarchy, and exchange may coexist
in any situation, the reciprocal logic of exchange has dominated the other two
moral principles by rationalizing mutual aid and social class. By managing the
principles of communism and hierarchy, the logic of reciprocity has become synonymous with our perception of justice. Therefore, this tit-for-tat exchange suppositionalso know as market logicremains a consequential, yet essential,
component in the reformulation of the human economy, which CouchSurfing, as
a commercial cooperative, represents.
21
community; this gratitude manifests as an obligation to the community, encouraging hosts and CouchSurfers to reciprocate the generosity and felicity they have
experienced by opening their homes to travelers or searching out genuinely appealing locals to host them.
To clarify further: it is the disregard for sterile, calculating logic that en-
22
through reputation. It is the digital that enables people to de-emphasize the potential danger of hosting or being hosted by strangers, thereby reconnecting with
the virtues of generosity and the pleasures of conviviality. The neo represents
the digital, the human represents the analogue, and while humans are not digital
constructions, the digital is inherently a human construction and may be harnessed to remind us what it is to be human. In other words, by connecting us
with one another, digital technology reconnects us with socialitys intrinsic value.
As Miller and Horst argue, Being human is a cultural and normative concept... [I]t
is our definition of being human that mediates what the technology is, not the
other way around. Technology may in turn be employed to help shift our conceptualisation of being human (2012: 34). Because CouchSurfing represents a new
form of socializing, it may be considered part of a new type (or a return to an old
type) of sociality that reflects the values of a human economyprizing mutual aid
and the inestimable value of each human beingwhile simultaneously existing
within the binary logic of the market.
Part of the reason the calculating logic of the market economy is so per-
vasive to the point of being instinctual throughout the world is couched in the
moral vindication of debt. This is perhaps Graebers most significant argument:
In the secular world, morality consists largely of fulfilling our obligations to others, and we have a stubborn tendency to imagine those obligations as debts
(2011: 13). By associating debt with morality, the obligation to pay off ones debt
becomes a matter of honor. However, investigating the ancient history of codes
of honor reveals that financial obligations were of little significance in comparison
to obligations between people:
We speak both of debts of honor, and honoring one's debts; in fact, the transition
from one to the other provides the best clue to how debts emerge from obligations;
even as the notion of honor seemed to echo a defiant insistence that financial
debts are not really the most important ones; an echo, here, of arguments that, like
those in the Vedas and the Bible, go back to the very dawn of the market itself
(Graeber 2011: 166).
23
The paradox of honor becomes apparent here. Honor may reflect either the insignificance of monetary debt (characteristic of the human economy) or ones obligation to pay that debt (characteristic of the market economy). However, once
the failure to pay ones debt became equated with losing ones honor, stripping
them of their dignity became a logical consequence. Because honor in that case
demands the power to strip others of their dignity, honor is that excess dignity
that must be defended with the knife or sword (Graeber 2011: 170). The degradation resulting from codes of honor reveals the lack of empathytypical of impersonal market logicrequired to make dehumanizing calculations. With the incarnation of currency, the value of money became the value of the power to turn
others into money (Graeber 2011: 171). Graeber borrows from Nietzsche in order to examine the repercussions of this association between debt and honor (or
lack thereof) in respect of morality:
Any system of commercial accounting, [Nietzsche] assumed, will produce creditors
and debtors. In fact, he believed that it was from this very fact that human morality
emerged. Note, he says, how the German word schuld means both debt and
guilt. At first, to be in debt was simply to be guilty, and creditors delighted in punishing debtors unable to repay their loans by inflicting all sorts of humiliation and
torture on the body of the debtor, for instance, cutting as much flesh off as seemed
appropriate for the debt (2011: 77; his emphasis).
This link between debt and guilt ascribed a binary morality to exchange. However, this right versus wrong assessment of economic activity fails to consider
the deeper interpersonal and situational particularities of any given exchange, reinforcing Graebers suggestion that a human economy reflects the relativity of
morality given the uniqueness of the situation and of the people involved.
This correlation between morality and debt enables the further elucidation
24
2012a: 96). The congruence between this description of Baumans moral economy and my delineation of the neo-human economy is evident. However, Bauman frames his moral economy in direct opposition to the triumph of rampant
individualizing consumerism and neoliberalism (Bauman 2007: 145), making it a
defeatist depiction of the loss of solidarity in contrast to the more complicated
explanations of solidaritys incorporation of consumer logic and its proliferation
within certain communitiesonline, offline, and hybrids of the twothat I have
been documenting here. Miller tackles this condemnation of consumerism with
his claim that love is not only normative but easily dominant as the context and
motivation for the bulk of actual shopping practice (1998: 23). The complexity
and unpredictability of moral logic render Baumans moral economy analytically
insufficient. Although the moral economys production of a sociality based on
solidarity, compassion and mutual sympathy typifies the sociality produced
through CouchSurfing (Germann Molz 2012b: 122), it cannot account for the
mobile solidarity generated through geographically dispersed, asynchronous,
and networked online and offline interactions between strangers (Germann Molz
2012b: 131). Going beyond the neoliberal framework of the moral economy, the
neo-human economy accounts for the production of both traditional forms of
solidarity as well as mobile solidarity.4
Germann Molz coins this term to conceptualize social movements and solidarity that engage with
digital technologies in addition to the movement of people (2012b: 131).
Kareem Farooq, 2012
25
Chapter Three:
Exchanging Hospitality for What Exactly?
system of exchange based on establishing sociality through generosity and solidarity with the aid of digital technology, in this chapter I examine what happens
when CouchSurfers interact.
a propensity for reciprocity among individuals, and this penchant persists in the
neo-human economy. The notion that generosity must be reciprocated seems
honorable and considerate and follows Mauss rationale that with a gift comes
the obligation to receive that gift, followed by the obligation to reciprocate it
(2002 [1923]: 50). This logic continues to influence CouchSurfings neo-human
economy, and is partially responsible for inspiring courteous behavior. However,
rather than following a precise equipoise, reciprocation involves a more personal
and cooperative tactic.
cause hospitality cannot be repaidneither literally nor metaphorically. As mentioned earlier, CouchSurfing prohibits payments, and the connections the organization facilitates happen mostly by chance; the right people connect at the right
time under the right circumstances. The choice to have a profile has already been
made, so the only volition involved are the decisions to request a couch and the
decision to accept this couch request. Serendipity is mitigated by CouchSurfings reputation systems. However, because each CouchSurfing experience is
unique, any gift given to a host is given with the understanding that the meaning
of the gift is symbolic; it is not given as compensation but as appreciation. Most
CouchSurfers show their appreciation to their host with food and/or beverages
(CS/197 2012). Some will cook, others will provide a bottle of wine, and a few will
take their host out for a meal. Other ways to express gratitude include a handmade craft or a souvenir from ones home country (CS/197 2197). While attending a CouchSurfing activity 5 in Edinburgh, I met a local wearing an interesting
5
A major element of the CouchSurfing community are local activities held in cities all around the
world that give visiting members a chance to meet up with locals and participate in whatever recreation has been planned.
Kareem Farooq, 2012
26
bracelet made of intricately woven rope through soda can tabs. He told me a
CouchSurfer he had hosted three years ago made it for him. Bialski classifies
these small gifts and actscooking, cleaning, or taking a host out for a mealas
explicit forms of reciprocity that are ephemeral gestures of goodwill (2011:
251). Conversation and compromise qualify as implicit forms of reciprocity because not conversing with ones host or refusing to compromise with a hosts
schedule would be rude (Bialski 2011: 252). These implicit forms of reciprocity
can, however, become an awkward price to pay. Bialski refers to a Polish
CouchSurfer informant in order to illustrate how such implicit reciprocity can become uncomfortable. The CouchSurfer was playing the part of the listener when
her host divulged intimate sexual issues she was going through. Uneasy with the
direction of the conversation but not wanting to be rude, the CouchSurfer continued to listen but refrained from speaking. As Bialski explains, this CouchSurfer
gave up her freedom to manoeuvre between listener and speaker she was
trapped into that role because of her obligations to her host (2012: 252). Although this CouchSurfer was trapped as an unwilling listener, most encounters
between surfers and hosts are generally short and sweet with little expectation of
ongoing mutual obligation beyond the arranged stay (Germann Molz 2012b:
123). So as awkward as any situation may become, unless it devolves into chaos,
the ephemeral nature of travel renders these experiences as part of the adventure of CouchSurfing.
procity between CouchSurfers, adopting Aafke Komters direct and indirect reciprocity terminology: In direct reciprocity there are repeated encounters between
two individuals while indirect reciprocity means that there are repeated encounters within a group (Chen 2011: 283). Chen observes that CouchSurfing consistently follows indirect reciprocity because the exchange of hospitality is not limited to two certain individuals but ranges across a group of members (2011:
283). Drawing on the work of Germann Molz, this form of indirect reciprocity
works because members of the CouchSurfing community possess the shared
value of cosmopolitanism which balances the reciprocal system between givers
and receivers, hosts and surfers (Chen 2011: 283). Like-mindedness, then, renders indirect reciprocity inherent to CouchSurfing encounters since each successful encounter fosters a desire to give back to the community rather than to a
27
Ren-qing refers to any favour or kindness received from others that should be paid back, emphasizing a direct reciprocity between particular individuals to maintain a long-term relationship.
Furthermore, ren-qing exhibits an empathetic component that encourages its practitioners to give
not according to what one receives, but according to the receivers expectations (Chen 2011: 283).
Kareem Farooq, 2012
28
industry throughout East Asia presents cuisine as a historical and cultural experience, and many Taiwanese CouchSurfers have incorporated this marketing strategy into their own strategies for attracting hosts (Chen 2011: 292). Chens female
informants used the offer to cook a traditional Taiwanese meal as an effective
lure when making couch requests. This offer complied with the reciprocity of renqing by fulfilling the expectations of their hostin one case Chens informant
admitted that because Taiwanese dishes are too difficult to prepare while abroad,
she traveled with Japanese curry spices and would make Japanese curry to represent the local culture of Asia (2011: 292). Such concern for presenting themselves in accordance with expectations causes Taiwanese CouchSurfers who
adopt these strategies of reciprocity to have the inadvertent effect of entrenching
certain well-worn national stereotypes.
Although these implicit and explicit, direct and indirect forms of reciprocity
29
The historical impetus of hospitality reflects the complex social values of a human economy because both the generosity of the host and the reciprocity of the
guest are motivated by sociality. Discussing the etymological relation between
hospitality and hostility (Graeber 2011: 101; Germann Molz 2012a: 90), both
Graeber and Germann Molz foreground connections between hosts, hospitality, hostility, and hostages in order to highlight the risks hospitality involved
in the ancient world. These scholars also emphasize the potential transformation
of the stranger to a friend (danger to camaraderie) through the invitation to share
a meal and a home. Tom Selwyn sums this up succinctly: Hospitality converts:
strangers into familiars, enemies into friends, friends into better friends, outsiders
into insiders, non-kin into kin (2000: 19). Such transitions are essential for avoiding potential hostility:
The danger lies, precisely, in the possibility that the opportunity and promise of a
relationship will simply not be taken up, that the stranger will remain a stranger,
and that the transformative processes which acts of hospitality put in motion will
simply wither away before they have been given a chance to take root (Selwyn
2000: 34).
social life, then to offer fellowship to a stranger not only helps to avoid danger
but, so to speak, reproduces sociality, which illuminates why sharing a meal is a
common and important host-guest experience (Graeber 2011: 101). The act of
breaking bread is a fundamental ritual signifying inclusion into a group, as well as
signifying the exclusion of those who should not partake in this ritual. Selwyn
borrows from Mary Douglas to make this point:
The moral framework established by proper obedience to the food laws serves to
bind the members of a family to each other and the family to the wider community whose members share the code. It also separates both from others who do
not share the code (Selwyn 2000: 28).
Kareem Farooq, 2012
30
ant of the ancient law of hospitality. Rather than losing ones freedom and becoming a slave to a host after exploiting the hosts hospitality, hosts instead leave
a negative reference, thereby shaming that user so that the rest of the community
will take note. As one CouchSurfer surmised, Everyone is afraid to get a negative message back on their profile. You reap what you sow (Steylaerts and
Dubhghaill 2011: 273). The rarity of negative references attests to the success of
the reputation systems transparency. Also, the intimacy that transpires between
CouchSurfers reflects the courteous discourse that dignifies traditional forms of
hospitality. According to Douglas, Each meal carries something of the meaning
of the other meals; each meal is something of a structured social event which
structures others in its own image (1972: 69). Because meals are representative
of the formal feasts that have preceded them, a shared meal between strangers
draws on these past moments of intimate socializing (Selwyn 2000: 33). In my
own home when hosting CouchSurfers, my fiance and I sit around the table with
our guests for each meal, partaking in conversation as we eat. On our own the
two of us usually eat seated on the couch, sometimes watching or listening to a
program. Meals at the table are reserved for romantic dinners or for dinner parties. Having hosted over a dozen CouchSurfers throughout the past year I am in
31
a position to confirm that dinner is indeed the most transformative process because humor, anecdotes, and philosophies come alive, binding new relationships
that, while ephemeral, are emotionally intense. This may be because of the
aforementioned like-mindedness that CouchSurfers share, but the experience is
nonetheless tangible and stimulating.
nitys hybrid nature and neo-human economy. As was discussed earlier, the danger of hosting a stranger is mitigated by digital technologies, which thus allow for
new opportunities of hospitality to emerge. These technological systems have the
counterintuitive effect of enabling a community of openminded travelers to thrive
by excluding those who would not (or cannot) conform to this particular code of
hospitality. This contradiction has been analyzed by Germann Molz and expanded upon by the ethnographic work of Chen and Sonja Buchberger. By uniting different people throughout the world by appealing to their shared interests,
such as traveling, learning about other cultures, and eating foreign cuisine,
CouchSurfing fulfills the expectations of members who seek differences that are
consumable and communal (Germann Molz 2007: 77; her emphasis). However,
these differences are particular, and those who do not fit this strangers like us
(Germann Molz 2012a: 94) code are excluded:
Clearly, people who do not already have the financial means to travel, a place to
host other travellers or the political right to mobility are not welcome to participate in the club. Guests who might become parasites or enemies represent the
wrong kind of difference; a difference that is not easily consumed over a glass
of wine or a late night conversation in someones living room (Germann Molz
2007: 78).
32
Moreover, the structure of formal Moroccan hospitality protocols negates the likemindedness component that fosters conviviality. Buchberger elaborates:
You dont feel free, is a usual formulation among Moroccan members to describe this situation. In hosting in single households, in contrast, there is more
freedom and fun. Obligatory small talk with all relatives and the stress of worrying about what family members might think and say about the foreign guests
dress and behavior falls away. (2011: 307).
Young women in Morocco experience a much more strict form of supervision from their families
than young men, who have more freedom to use the internet and spend time with friends outside
of the home without serious interrogation (Buchberger 2011: 301).
Kareem Farooq, 2012
33
age the reputation of whomever that gossip denounces. Central to the risk young
Moroccans face in hosting strangers from CouchSurfing are misunderstandings
concerning how CouchSurfing functions. Such misunderstandings are not necessarily unique to this part of the world; however, the fact that the main risk hosts
face derives from overly inquisitive neighbors rather than the strangers themselves sheds light on a fascinating aspect of the neo-human economy. Graeber
notes that the development of the market in the Middle East during the Middle
Ages thrived once the mercantile classes abandoned usury (2011: 282). This enabled merchants to becomealongside religious teachersthe effective leaders of their communities: communities are still seen as organized, to a large extent, around the twin poles of mosque and bazaar (Graeber 2011: 282). Such a
connection between Islam and the market underscores the unique morality reflected in quotidian economic activity in Morocco. CouchSurfings neo-human
economy disrupts the symbiosis between religion and commerce. An experience
described by Buchberger aptly depicts this disruption. While riding with a Moroccan CouchSurfer on his moped, two men on a more powerful scooter ridiculed
them as they rode past saying, Look! He has a gawriyya (western woman) and a
snetr (i.e. a Peugeot 103 scooter)! (2011: 311). In Morocco being friends with a
foreigner reflects upper class status, and according to these assumptions, the
host needs to have certain financial means to live up to expectations of generous
serving of food, drink and environment (2011: 311). Furthermore, the notion of
foreigners being received and entertained without direct monetary interaction
taking place might seem surprising and peculiar to many Moroccans (2011:
312). The decision made by many Moroccan members to neglect explaining how
CouchSurfing works further complicates the matter. Buchberger explains the reasoning of these Moroccan members:
They assume right from the start that computer-mediated hospitality exchange is
incomprehensible to their families and neighbours, because it clashes too veheKareem Farooq, 2012
34
mently with local understandings of morality regarding gender relations and cultural
conventions that one could not possibly offer these services without expecting financial profit or at least some form of remuneration from the allegedly wealthier
guwwar[8 ] tourists. (2011: 312).
This distinction between the backwards neighbor and the modern host elucidates how the neo-human economy transcends the objectification of women as
sexual commodities. Of course, sexual tension still (and will always) exists.
Buchbergers observation that male CouchSurfers have more difficulty finding
hosts in Moroccan than females evinces this sexual tension (2011: 300). However, the reputation system upholds the values of the CouchSurfing community
just as well in Morocco, ensuring each meeting is met with the cosmopolitan expectations of friendship and cultural exchange, and relegating sex and romance
to fortuity.
Guwwar is the most widespread term for western tourists today... (Buchberger 2011: 300).
Kareem Farooq, 2012
35
Chapter Four:
Digitizing Social Capital
This digital manifestation of social capital follows the argument made ear-
36
hensive economic unity which supplements the one-sided production of the individual (1997: 246).
The transition from a direct person-to-person connection to the indirect and exponential connections of each individual to all others through the acceptance of
money, initiated a separation between the value people accrued through their social network and the value they accumulated through labor. Germann Molz cites
Simmel as well when she suggests that systems of credit act as a defensive
strategy, preventing the exhaustive and risky task of engaging in meaningful conversation when interacting with strangers: Placing trust in currency rather than in
one another allows strangers to interact while remaining detached from each
other (Germann Molz 2012a: 87). Unfortunately for Simmel, once money becomes the ultimate motivation for individuals, they have entered a circuit of dissatisfaction because moneys ability to equate anything renders life full of endless
equations, calculations, conversions, and depreciations (1997: 249). The feelings
of security and freedom that money provides must be constantly restored with
more money (Simmel 1997: 252). Graeber admits that the the ability to pull out a
wallet full of banknotes that are unconditionally one's own can be a compelling
form of freedom, but he contends that it is rooted in a deeply flawed, even perverse, conception of human freedom (2011: 355). As dreary as these sentiments
may seem, they hinge on moneys inability to sustain individual satisfaction and
its inability to inspire human sociality. The profit motive triggered by the acquisition of money is unsustainable; it creates a culture that seeks constant improvement, straining in vain to maintain its satisfaction (Simmel 1997: 235). Such is the
price of financial capital. Social capital, alternatively, accrues profits through
membership rather than production, making solidarity the basis of its value
(Bourdieu 2004 [1983]: 22).
through their combined collective capital, and according to Pierre Bourdieu, this
aggregation of resources for the mutual benefit of the collective represents social
capital (2004 [1983]: 21). Pooling resources also reflects CouchSurfings utopian
ideal of forging a global community by sharing ones home with strangers
(Germann Molz 2007: 77). Rather than titles of nobility and authority demonstrating concentrated social capital as Bourdieu posited, social capital among
CouchSurfers depends on different factors. Those with the most positive referKareem Farooq, 2012
37
ences are clearly actively engaged with the community. Some members may voluntarily become official CouchSurfing ambassadors. These members are recognized by the organization as community leaders, who organize events, welcome
new members, answer questions, and actively participate in CouchSurfing (CS/
Ambassador 2012). Not everyone can become an ambassador, but anyone can
create and attend events or share their knowledge and experience on the websites group forums, in addition to hosting and surfing.
eral members in one setting in order to build social capital, particularly if you are
new to CouchSurfing and lack references. While in Istanbul, my fiance and I attended a weekly CouchSurfing event with her family. We learned of the event
through her brother who received a message from a local in Istanbul (I will refer to
him as Samir). When you log into your account, CouchSurfing will show that you
are online and the current city you are in so that other members can invite you to
attend local activities. This is done at the discretion of the local, and in our case,
Samir was an incredibly friendly gentleman, who regularly invites travelers to
these weekly events. We all met that evening at a park next to a boardwalk on
the water in Kadiky, Istanbul. Dozens of CouchSurfers showed up, and after
talking with a few, I realized just how normal this scene was. Many spoke about
an amazing boat party that had been held the weekend prior and was organized
through CouchSurfing. Samir jokingly confessed that he invites as many travelers
as possible because if he didnt, these get-togethers would be hardly as interesting. This cosmopolitan desire corresponds to one of Bialskis Polish informants
who admitted to her that he declined a CouchSurfer from Poland because
theyre not different enough (2011: 251). Sure enough, after connecting online
the next day, we discovered Samir was somewhat of a CouchSurfing icon with
more friends (840) and references (532) than any of us had ever seen. (In comparison, my profile has half a dozen friends and thirteen references.) Of course,
attaining extensive digitized social capital does not guarantee that your couch
request will always be accepted when you travel. The preferences and interests
you list on your profile, your personal description, and, as mentioned before, serendipity all factor into a successful CouchSurf. Still, a lack of CouchSurfing references equates to a lack of digitized social capital, and therefore no record of
38
trust, which in most cases will result in having to pursue another means of accommodation.
4.1 When Social Capital and Fiscal Capital Collide
39
conversation, courtesy and conviviality, they propel and expand the communitys
cosmopolitan ideals. This communistic composition of exchange reproduces sociality through inspiring experiences; however this would not be possible without
the social networks technical infrastructure. Bourdieu goes on:
The reproduction of social capital presupposes an unceasing effort of sociability, a
continuous series of exchanges in which recognition is endlessly affirmed and reaffirmed. This work, which implies expenditure of time and energy and so, directly or
indirectly, of economic capital, is not profitable or even conceivable unless one invests in it a specific competence (knowledge of genealogical relationships and of
real connections and skill at using them, etc.) and an acquired disposition to acquire
and maintain this competence... (2004 [1983]: 22-23).
Here we may begin to examine the necessary role the organization plays in facilitating the sociality that CouchSurfing produces (and reproduces). This history of
the website reflects the initial catalyst that accelerated the formation and exponential expansion the community. CouchSurfings conception developed after cofounder, Casey Fenton, acquired an inexpensive flight to Reykjavik, but had no
place to stay. He decided to send a mass email to University of Reykjavik students in hopes of finding someone to host him (Germann Molz 2011: 217). According to the website, He received so many offers of hospitality that he realized
there was a community out there hungry for a human-centered approach to
travel (CS/Media_FAQ 2012). This experience would spawn the most successful
hospitality exchange network to date. However, the work of the founders of this
hybrid network relies on technology to facilitate personal encounters and inspiring experiences, and of course, this technology requires time and energy as well
as economic capital to implement. This illuminates the hierarchical structure that
oversees CouchSurfings communist hospitality exchange.
Over the course of the conclusion, I will examine how this overall system
has been working and the conflicts of interest that arise when an economic
model based simply on sociality becomes an investment opportunity.
40
CONCLUSION:
Corporatizing CouchSurfing
I opened this dissertation discussing Facebook, which may now seem peripheral
since CouchSurfing was the focus of this work. However, Facebooks dominance
as the most successful social media platform to date along with its recent introduction into the stock market renders it a macroscopic example of what the
money economyas Simmel referred to itdoes to a social network.
At the time Germann Molz wrote her piece, Solidarity on the Move
41
had tried hard for many years to be certified as a 501c(3) non-profit, but ultimately the US government didnt accept that hosting and surfing are charitable
activities (Fenton 2011). Fenton goes on in the letter to reassure that CouchSurfing will remain as committed to their mission to make the world a better place
and that they are not actually for profit because money is still not the goal of
the organization (Fenton 2011). Despite these reassurances, this new for-(some)profit model poses new questions, such as how exactly does one monetize a
system based on the exchange of generosity?
organization was accompanied with the announcement that the organization had
secured a $7.6 million round of financing from Benchmark Capital and Omidyar
Network (Perlroth 2011; Lapowsky 2012; Lacy 2012). Discussing CouchSurfings
transition, Nicole Perlroth alluded to the dot-com bubble to the late 1990s,
speculating that Silicon Valley may be in the midst of a new technology bubble
(2011). Perlroths article ends with a quote from Matt Cohler of Benchmark Capital comparing CouchSurfing to a young Facebook, which, just as CouchSurfing is
now, was popular among college students before it burgeoned (Perlroth 2011).
However, unlike Facebook, CouchSurfing is not (or has not been) a tool for corporate marketing. In fact, the neo-human economy CouchSurfing produced undermines corporatism: Every time CouchSurfing members exchange generosity
rather than money, they are participating in broader claims against corporate cultural governance (Germann Molz 2012a: 100). This indicates an inherent conflict
of interest between the CouchSurfing community and its investors.
tinued to grow, and little about the functionality of the website has changed
(aside from appearing much sleeker). However, as the executives managing
CouchSurfing pursue new potential streams of revenue, changes will most likely
result. As Miller and Horst point out, the most astonishing feature of digital culture is not actually this speed of technical innovation, but rather the speed by
which society takes all of these for granted and creates normative conditions for
their use (2012: 32). By normalizing these changes, users fail to notice the gradual imposition of corporate interests. This gradual integration of corporatism
evokes the evolution of the internet from a potential utopia to a commercial inno-
42
vation, making Perloths allusion to the dot-com bubble all the more disconcerting.
Examining a similar sentiment from the earlier work of Germann Molz reflects the
potential disaster that may develop in the form of a second technology bubble
bursting, and the strange irony that such a burst would reveal:
Casey [Fenton], the founder of CouchSurfing.com, was inspired to create his noncommercial site after becoming disillusioned by his lucrative career in software development during the dot-com boom (2007: 73).
43
prior, and she speculates that perhaps CouchSurfing developed a sudden inferiority complex upon hearing the news that its smaller, new, for-profit rival was
suddenly flush with cash (2011). Of course, such speculation also propagates
the market logic that permeates western culture, further undermining certain neohuman economies that are still in their infancy.
have been the inevitable (if not predictable) outcome to such a community. The
growth of global-ethical awareness over the past few decades has inspired
travelers to seek a less commodified form of hospitality, desiring instead the personalized experience that CouchSurfing provides (Steylaerts and ODubhghaill
2011: 264). However, the incorporation of technology by individuals who share
this aspiration of authentic travel experiences has formalized the process of
producing these authentic experiences (Steylaerts and ODubhghaill 2011: 276).
Discussing CouchSurfing, Steylaerts and ODurhghaill point out, As seminal as
[the social networking aspect is], it is also in jeopardy (or viewed as in jeopardy)
by coming under the rubric of marketers, or others concerned with formalizing
the experience (2011: 269). Formalization enables monetization, and just as the
utopian vision that accompanied the internet at its inception succumbed to the
innovation of commercial practices, the potential of the sociality-spawning neohuman economy becomes another market for brand managers to cater to. Insights from Miller and Horst render this outcome nearly predictable: The internet
constantly promises new forms of openness, which are almost immediately followed by calls for new constraints and controls, expressing our more general
ambivalence towards the experience of freedom (2012: 24). Thus as CouchSurfings model expands to connect more members and facilitate more inspiring experiences, the system begins to attract the attention of those who fear that this
new model of hospitality poses a threat to either their bottom line or to their repressed society.
clusion (2011: 375). Graeber used this term to signify the repercussions of allowing anyone, including minorities and women, to participate in a capitalist system
that protected the rights of workers, guaranteed social benefits, and ensured access to affordable public educational institutions (2011: 373). Essentially, Graeber
44
argues that this form of regulated capitalism could no longer sustain itself once
marginalized citizens began demanding the same benefits as white, workingclass citizens. As a result, the neo-liberal agenda replaced this regulated form of
capitalism. The ongoing struggle between free-market capitalism and a social
democratic form of capitalism aptly reflects the reoccurring battles taking place
in the digital realm. Graebers assessment summarizes this nicely:
Just as markets, when allowed to drift entirely free from their violent origins, invariably begin to grow into something different, into networks of honor, trust, and mutual
connectedness, so does the maintenance of systems of coercion constantly do the
opposite: turn the products of human cooperation, creativity, devotion, love, and
trust back into numbers once again. (2011: 381)
profit-driven companies. Hospitality Club recently announced it would begin working with Airbnb, a commercial company that enables host users to rent spare
Kareem Farooq, 2012
45
rooms, apartments, or houses to travelers and allows travel users to rent accommodations from hosts. With this new partnership, Airbnb users will now have the
additional option to stay with local Hospitality Club members. However, when
staying with Hospitality Club members, the fee Airbnb users pay will be donated to
Hospitality Club, rather than directly compensating the host (HospitalityClub/
Airbnb 2012). The success of this new venture is yet to be determined, as the
partnership has only recently been forged. But the implications are clear: these
websites, as noble as their missions may be, require cash to function. Because
hospitality exchange is now a thriving market rather than a marginal movement,
each hospitality exchange network must invest in improving user experience9 in
order to remain relevant and valuable. Nevertheless, as Steylaerts and
ODubhghaill indicated, the growth of this authentic cultural experience market
developed as a reaction against the homogeneity of commercial hospitality; thus
users of hospitality exchange networks maintain a global-ethical awareness that
is unique to this new market (2011: 264).
bers conclusion that capitalism appropriates the products of human cooperation into a calculable commodity. Once commodified, CouchSurfing experiences
will lose the the spirit of adventure that once enthused its members. Conversely,
an optimist will note that the neo-human economy has taken root. The seeds
may have been planted with the conception of Servas in 1949, but CouchSurfings success reflects a common desire to partake in an alternative form of exchange. After all, CouchSurfing has always coexisted with market forces. Building and maintaining the technical infrastructure that connects CouchSurfers required funding. Without revenue, the neo-human economy that this social network produced would lack the digital means to initiate trust between strangers.
Therefore, rather than existing outside of the money economy, the neo-human
economy coexists with the money economy. If Graeber is correct and communism is the foundation of all human relations (2011: 96), then we may be witnessing something similar to Healys neo-human theory gradually develop. If
Facebooks success illustrates peoples unending desire to share information
with others, then CouchSurfings success demonstrates our desire to share an
User experience in the case of hospitality exchange networks entails catalyzing convivial sociality.
Kareem Farooq, 2012
46
authentic slice of our lives with one another. As these meaningful encounters
continue to aggregate, something will eventually begin to shift. In order to coexist
with the neo-human economy, the money economy may have to yield its competitive tenet. If that is the case, Healys theory of a new paradigm in which analogue and digital coexist as a mutually supportive, noncompetitive grouping
may be reinterpreted and applied to the coexistence of the neo-human economy
and the money economy. As neo-human economies gradually infiltrate money
economies, the moral principle Graeber defined as exchange will be deemphasized. Rather than managing Graebers two other moral principleshierarchy and communismexchange and its logic of reciprocity will work in collaboration with hierarchy and communism to enhance sociality.
paradigm shift. By legalizing the subordination of profit to enhance social and environmental goals (Alperovitz 2011: 20), this new corporate model represents a
tangible reaction to the social, environmental, and economic turmoil resulting
from the money economy (Alperovitz 2011:24). By appropriating market logic and
discarding the competitive gumption of this logic, neo-human economics pursues the interests of many at the expense of concentrated wealth. Although the
calculable profitability of B corporations may be quantitatively low, by emphasizing sociality over profitability, the risks of economic turmoil are mitigated. The
success of CouchSurfing, and even Facebook, demonstrates the persistent human desire for convivial connectivity. This desire echoes Millers ethnographic
work on shopping, which redirect[s] attention from shopping as an expression of
individual subjectivity and identity to an expression of kinship and other relationships (1998: 35). By facilitating sharing, social networks reflect our desire to socialize. If investors fail to understand that the value of these social networks derives not from commercialization but from the expansion of sociality, then capitalizing on popular social networks for short-term profits will lead to a speculative
bubbleas Perlroth insinuated. However, investing with the intention of supporting of the convivial mission of a social network by focusing on improving the
service for userswithout the expectation of immediate capitalizationwould, in
effect, finance social prosperity, which may then lead to economic prosperity.
47
References:
Adamic, Lada A., Lauterbach, Debra, Teng, Chun-Yuen, and Ackerman, Mark.
Rating Friends Without Making Enemies. Aaai.org. Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence Conference on Weblogs and Social Media,
05 July 2011. Web. 17 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.aaai.org/ocs/index.php/ICWSM/ICWSM11/paper/view/2837/328
0>.
Alperovitz, Gar. The New-Economy Movement. The Nation. 13 June 2011: 2024. Print.
Appadurai, Arjun. (2000) Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy. In Lechner, Frank J. and Boli, J. (eds.), The Globalization Reader. Malden, MA and Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd.
Appiah, K. Appiah. (2006) Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a world of Strangers. New
York: W.W. Norton & Co.
Bauman, Zygmunt. (2007) Consuming Life. Cambridge, UK and Malden, MA: Polity Press.
Bialski, Paula. (2011) Technologies of hospitality: How planned encounters develop between strangers. Hospitality & Society, 1(3): 245260.
Bourdieu, Pierre. (2004 [1983]) "The Forms of Capital."In Stephen J. Ball (ed.),
The Routledge Falmer Reader in Sociology of Education. New York: Routledge Falmer.
Buchberger, Sonja. (2011) Hospitality, secrecy an gossip in Morocco: Hosting
CouchSurfers against great odds. Hospitality & Society, 1(3): 299-315.
Capriglione, Joseph and Gunja, Arwa. Couch Surfing Goes Mainstream. The
Take Away. 10 April 2012. Co-production of WNYC Radio and Public Radio
International, in collaboration with The BBC World Service, New York Time
Radio and WGBH Boston. Web. Accessed 17 July 2012.
<http://www.thetakeaway.org/2012/apr/10/couch-surfing-goes-mainstream/>.
Chen, De-Jung. (2011) Global concept, local practice: Taiwanese experience of
CouchSurfing. Hospitality & Society, 1(3): 279-297.
CS/144. (2011) A New Era for CouchSurfing. CouchSurfing.org. CouchSurfing
International, Inc. 24 August 2011. Web. Accessed: 15 July
2012.<http://www.couchsurfing.org/news/article/144>
Kareem Farooq, 2012
48
CS/197. (2012) The Many Ways of Saying Thanks: How CouchSurfers express
gratitude to to their hosts. CouchSurfing.com. CouchSurfing International,
Inc. 22 January 2012. Web. Accessed: 14 July 2012.
<http://www.couchsurfing.org/news/article/197>.
CS/About. (2012) About CouchSurfing: Who We Are. CouchSurfing.org.
CouchSurfing International, Inc., 27 Aug. 2011. Web. Accessed: 17 July 2012.
<http://www.couchsurfing.org/about>.
CS/Ambassador. (2012) This member is an Ambassador! CouchSurfing.com.
CouchSurfing International, Inc. Web. Accessed: 14 Jul 2012.
<http://www.couchsurfing.org/ambassador.html>.
CS/Group. (2011) We are against CS becoming a for-profit corporation.
CouchSurfing.com. CouchSurfing International, Inc. 26 August 2011. Web.
Accessed: 01 August 2012.
<http://www.couchsurfing.org/group.html?gid=45507>.
CS/Help. (2012) FAQ. CouchSurfing.com. CouchSurfing International, Inc. Web.
Accessed: 14 July 2012. <http://www.couchsurfing.org/help.html>.
CS/Media_FAQ. (2012) Media FAQ. CouchSurfing.com. CouchSurfing International, Inc. Web. Accessed: 14 July 2012.
<http://www.couchsurfing.org/media_faq.html>.
CS/Mission. (2012) Our Mission. CouchSurfing.com. CouchSurfing International, Inc. Web. Accessed: 20 July 2012.
<http://www.couchsurfing.org/about/mission/>.
CS/Statistics. (2012) Statistics. CouchSurfing.com. CouchSurfing International,
Inc. 2012. Web. Accessed: 30 July 2012
<http://www.couchsurfing.org/statistics>.
CS/Vouching. (2012) Vouching. CouchSurfing.org. CouchSurfing International.
Web. Accessed: 18 July 2012. <http://www.couchsurfing.org/vouch.html>.
Douglas, Mary. (1972) Deciphering a Meal. Daedalus. 101(1), Myth, Symbol,
and Culture (Winter, 1972): 61-81.
Douglas, Mary. (2002 [1990]) Forward: No Free Gifts. In The Gift: The Form and
Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies by Marcel Mauss. London and New
York: Routledge.
49
50
<http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/24/couchsurfing-raises-7-6-m-will-users-cry
-sell-out/>.
Lapowsky, Issie. (2012) Couchsurfing Dilemma: Going for Profit. INC.com.
Mansueto Ventures LLC. 19 May 2012. Web. Accessed: 20 July 2012.
<http://www.inc.com/magazine/201206/issie-lapowsky/couchsurfing-new-pro
fit-model.html>.
Linklater, Richard, dir. Waking Life. Fox Searchlight Pictures, 2001. Film. 24 May
2012.
Luitweiler, Bob. (1999) The Seeds of Servas: Opening Doors for Peace. Prepublication gallery edition. Web. Accessed: 17 July 2012.
<http://www.servas.org/siexco/images/3/37/Seeds_of_Servas.pdf> .
Marx, Patricia. (2012) Youre Welcome: Couch-surfing the globe.
NewYorker.com. Cond Nast, 16 Apr 20112. Web. Accessed: 19 July. 2012.
<http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/04/16/120416fa_fact_marx?curre
ntPage=all>.
Mauss, Marcel. (2002 [1923]) The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies (translated by W.D. Halls [1990]). London and New York: Routledge.
Miller, Daniel and Horst, Heather. (2012) The Digital and the Human: A Prospectus for Digital Anthropology. In Digital Anthropology. Scheduled for publication by Berg Publishers: 01 October 2012.
Miller, Daniel, (1998) Making Love in the Supermarket. In A Theory of Shopping.
Cambridge: Polity.
Murphy, Tim. (2012) I Couch-Surfed Across Americaand Lived to Tell.
MotherJones.com. Mother Jones and the Foundation for National Progress,
17 Feb. 2012. Web. Accessed: 17 April 2012.
<http://motherjones.com/media/2012/01/couch-surfing-america-road-trip>.
Perlroth, Nicole. (2011) Non-Profit CouchSurfing Raises Millions in Funding.
Forbes.com. Forbes.com LLC. 24 Aug. 2011. Web. Accessed: 20 July 2012.
<http://www.forbes.com/sites/nicoleperlroth/2011/08/24/non-profit-couchsur
fing-raises-millions-in-funding/>.
Pultar, Edward and Raubal, Martin. (2009) A Case for Space: Physical and Virtual
Location Requirements for Internet-based Social Networks. In X. Zhou and
X. Xie (eds.), International Workshop on Location Based Social Networks
51
52