Individual microentrepreneur: businessman or “formal” and precarious worker? A theoretical and empirical reflection

Abstract

Entrepreneurship is a well-known phenomenon in the history of capitalist societies, but it is currently being seen as a “new” phenomenon, due to the revival of its figure and its social function, as well as its adoption as a public policy for job placement. Along these lines, workers are encouraged to become “companies” as a way out of crises (economic, employment, etc.), with entrepreneurship unfolding in many facets (self-employment, self-employment, informality, etc.), which challenge sociological reflection on the nature of this process and its conceptualization. In this sense, the aim of this work is to frame entrepreneurs in the world of work, based on a critical theoretical reflection of them in relation to the figures of the “entrepreneur” and the “formal salaried worker”. To this end, we used a multi-method approach, mobilizing a literature review on the subject, applying exploratory mixed questionnaires and conducting focus groups. As a result, we observed that understanding the nature of those who work in entrepreneurship cuts across these impacts and brings a paradox: if on the one hand they are formally micro-entrepreneurs, and even have some social rights, on the other hand we observe that this insertion also carries with it a process of concealing the forms of precariousness of work. We conclude that the consolidation of the micro-entrepreneurship process may express an ongoing process of creating a “new” type of worker, one that is more flexible, precarious and insecure.