From Hybrid Entrepreneurs to Entrepreneurial Billionaires: Observations on the Socioeconomic Heterogeneity of Self-employment

Conventional discourses about self-employment are unsatisfactory since there is no clear acknowledgment of its heterogeneity. Interpretations tend to refer to an average type that does not exist in practice, and there are problems of coherence, demarcations, and overlap. Examining macro-level patter...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe American behavioral scientist (Beverly Hills) Vol. 63; no. 2; pp. 129 - 146
Main Author Bögenhold, Dieter
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.02.2019
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects
Coherence
Companies
Comparative studies
Cross cultural studies
Discourses
Economic growth
Employment
Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurship
Gender differences
Heterogeneity
International comparisons
Labor
Occupations
Poverty
Self employment
Social mobility
Social privilege
Wealth
Women
labor markets
solo self-employment
digital economy
entrepreneurship
social mobility
self-employment
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Summary:Conventional discourses about self-employment are unsatisfactory since there is no clear acknowledgment of its heterogeneity. Interpretations tend to refer to an average type that does not exist in practice, and there are problems of coherence, demarcations, and overlap. Examining macro-level patterns of self-employment, a number of patterns emerge. First, self-employment includes both marginal and privileged positions, within individual countries and also in international comparisons. It can put people at risk of precariousness and poverty or it can be a vehicle to bring wealth to individuals and enterprises, contributing jobs and economic growth to society. Second, people increasingly switch between wage- or salary-dependent labor and self-employment and hybrid forms of employment, as forms of micro entrepreneurship are combined with dependent labor. Third, internationally, the ratio of women in solo self-employment is higher than that of men. Fourth, remarkable differences exist at the level of solo self-employment.
ISSN:0002-7642
1552-3381
DOI:10.1177/0002764218794231