‘It's like, instant respect’: Coworking spaces as identity anchoring environments in the new economy

Abstract As employment relationships become more tenuous, as work grows increasingly virtual and professional reputations circulate across online platforms, coworking provides individuals various arrangements with shared workspaces oriented towards sociability, visibility convenience. Our study explores how spaces also enable to shape their identities while providing other important attributes of help it feel embodied grounded. Drawing from interviews surveys members a large chain the United States, we find that serve identity anchoring environments . We many workers use material elements space ground in three ways: evidencing credibility, enacting common ethos energising connections others. More broadly, operators package sell physical, spatial symbolic aspects certain signal selves.