Neither precarious nor entrepreneur: The subjective experience of hybrid self-employed workers

Abstract

This article focuses on the ‘hybridity’ of solo self-employment by shedding light on the lived experiences and meanings of the subjects within their institutional and socio-economic contexts. It offers an original perspective to the study of the hybridization of work by linking the subjective and objective conditions underpinning solo self-employed workers. The study found that solo self-employed workers exercise agency over their working lives while facing high levels of insecurity, and that their contextualized experiences are related to the dominant narratives about self-employment. At the same time, however, findings also show that solo self-employed are engaged in (re)-constructing their alternative and dissonant narratives as well.

Solo self-employment, entrepreneurial subjectivity and the security–precarity continuum: Evidence from private tutors in the supplementary education industry

“…In between these poles, there was a range of more and less well-off tutors, depending on their position in a spatially and seasonally variable private tuition market. Greater numbers, however, had an enduring vulnerability due to the lack of social protection (Kim and Parker, 2020;Murgia and Pulignano, 2019), including pensions, that renders their position precarious in their old age. Rather than framing selfemployment in dualist terms of wealth or precarity (Kapelinsky and Shoshana, 2019), this study demonstrates that we need to do more to consider the middle-ground and well as the polar opposites, reflecting conceptually on solo self-employment as an heterogeneous category that spans what has been identified here as a 'security-precarity continuum'.…”

It Started with the Arts and Now It Concerns All Sectors: The Case of Smart, a Cooperative of ‘Salaried Autonomous Workers’

“…This is essentially because of how the social dialogue is conceived: the dichotomy between subordinate employees (who need social protection) and employers (who take risks and are autonomous). However, a vast majority of freelancers consider themselves to be neither of these (Murgia and Pulignano 2019). In fact, in the Smart community, many freelancers are different from classic liberal professionals (both in the sectors of activities and in the average levels of income); they are autonomous in many respects, but they also ask for social protection, as demonstrated by the main findings of the European project I-Wire (see Beuker et al 2017).…”

Comparing Depressive Symptoms, Emotional Exhaustion, and Sleep Disturbances in Self-Employed and Employed Workers: Application of Approximate Bayesian Measurement Invariance

“…For combinators, the working conditions of both employed and self-employed workers are present, and on top of that, they need to find a way to balance their two (or more) jobs. Difficulties might arise in the form of day-to-day balancing of time and resources ( Murgia and Pulignano, 2019 ). Hence, the different groups of workers vary in the organization of their work and the benefits and challenges affecting their health.…”