This book presents results of a cross-national research project on self-employment in eleven advanced economies and demonstrates how and why the practice is reemerging in modern societies. While traditional forms of self-employment, such as skilled crafts work and shop keeping, are in decline, they are being replaced by self-employment in both professional and unskilled occupations. Differences in self-employment across societies depend on the extent to which labor markets are regulated and the degree to which intergenerational family relationships are a primary factor structuring social organization.
For each of the eleven countries analyzed, the book highlights the extent to which social background, educational attainment, work history, family status, and gender affect the likelihood that an individual will enter--and continue--a particular type of self-employment. While involvement with self-employment is becoming more common, it is occurring for individuals in activities that are more diverse, unstable and transitory than in years past.

Illustrations vii
Tables xi
Preface xv
Chapter One
Self-Employment Dynamics in Advanced Economies 1
Walter Müller and Richard Arum
Chapter Two
Trends in Self-Employment in Germany: Different Types, Different Developments? 36
Henning Lohmann and Silvia Luber
Chapter Three
Entries and Exits from Self-Employment in France over the Last Twenty Years 75
Thomas Amossé and Dominique Goux
Chapter Four
Dutch Self-Employment between 1980 and 1997 104
Boris F. Blumberg and Paul M. de Graaf
Chapter Five
Self-Employment in the United Kingdom during the 1980s and 1990s 135
Nigel Meager and Peter Bates
Chapter Six
Entrepreneurs and Laborers: Two Sides of Self-Employment Activity in the United States 170
Richard Arum
Chapter Seven
Self-Employment in Australia,1980-1999 203
M.D.R.Evans and Joanna Sikora
Chapter Eight
Winners or Losers? Entry and Exit into Self-Employment in Hungary: 1980s and 1990s 245
Péter Róbert and Erzsébet Bukodi
Chapter Nine
Three Forms of Emergent Self-Employment in Post-Soviet Russia: Entry and Exit Patterns by Gender 277
Theodore P.Gerber
Chapter Ten
Self-Employment in Italy: Scaling the Class Barriers 310
Paolo Barbieri and Ivano Bison
Chapter Eleven
Entry into and Exit from Self-Employment in Japan 348
Hiroshi Ishida
Chapter Twelve
On One's Own: Self-Employment Activity in Taiwan 388
Wei-hsin Yu and Kuo-Hsien Su
Chapter Thirteen
The Reemergence of Self-Employment: Comparative Findings and Empirical Propositions 426
Richard Arum and Walter Müller
Contributors' Notes 455
Index 459

Richard Arum is Associate Professor of Sociology and Chair of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences in the Professions, at New York University. Walter Müller is Professor of Sociology at the University of Mannheim and Director of the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research.