Self-Employment as Precarious Work a European perspective

Since the 1970s the long term decline in self-employment has slowed – and even reversed in some countries – and the prospect of ‘being your own boss’ is increasingly topical in the discourse of both the general public and within academia. Traditionally, self-employment has been associated with independent entrepreneurship, but increasingly it is linked to being a form of precarious work. This book utilises evidence-based information to address both the current and future challenges of this trend as the nature of self-employment changes, as well as to demonstrate where, when and why self-employment has emerged as precarious work in Europe.

Bringing together leading international experts in the field, this book provides insight into key issues surrounding self-employment from a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives. Covering existing theory and context, providing empirical results of studies into self-employment and precarious work from across Europe, and discussion of the implications of this research, it offers key insights into future avenues for research.