Самонаетостта като проблем на социологията на групите
Self Employment as a Subject of Sociology

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this article is to characterize a distinct category of people, the self-employed. The object of analysis is the group-subject of a certain kind of labor-production activity. This is precisely the characteristic of the self-employed that defines them as the core of the middle class. The theses on the nature of the middle class represents an initial stage of analysis. The second stage is tracing the scope of the social category under study. The third stage is the analysis of self-employment as a component of state policy regarding the labor market. The analysis is based on three assumptions: The first is that self-employment as a specific kind of labor and production activity is qualitatively distinquished by the lack of external regulation over the way it operates, by a greater degree of autonomy and freedom in its labor, direct economic dependency of the self-employed on the results of their labor. The second is that the general characteristics of the labor activity lead to the formation of a specific type of personality, characterized by: a) greater flexibility, adaptability and mobility; b) personal prospects are bound to the social transformation at large; c) more rational and pragmatically oriented personal behavior, in which what "I want" must take into consideration what "I can do" and the profits are seen as dependent on the personal investment. The third is that individuals who have chosen independence rather than dependence in their work life form a specific social group with distinct interests. They are the first to emancipate themselves from the state and to establish a labor partnership with the state by negotiating new rules for the functioning of the national community.

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