Recent transformations within modern economies have often been discussed under the concept of “restructuring”. However this term, despite its widespread use in sociology, has little explanatory power. What is needed instead is a consideration of how restructuring has taken place. Three major theoretical positions which attempt to provide this understanding are Marxist monopoly captialism, post-fordism and post-industrialism. Each of these paradigms provides a different understanding of the nature and operation of contemporary capitalist formations. My purpose in this thesis is to determine which of these different viewpoints is most applicable to the Canadian situation. I will do so through an examination of changes in the self-employed sector of the Canadian economy since 1960. The self-employed sector, besides being of intrinsic interest because of its recent attention by politicians and the popular media, is an important testing ground for the relative validity of the above theories in the Canadian context. Each framework is consistent with a set of well-defined and contrasting predictions about what should happen to the overall size of the self-employed sector, as well as expectations about the direction of ascriptive inequality, both within the sector and in the larger society. Using time series regression procedures, declines and increases in the size of the entrepreneurial sector over the last thirty or so years are documented. In addition, the importance of increases in the sector is examined by modelling the effect of unemployment on self-employment. Predictions about ascriptive inequalities are tested through an investigation of earnings functions within the self-employed and employed populations. The results of these analyses suggest that a post-fordist understanding of the contemporary Canadian economy is most appropriate. Self-employment has clearly increased since 1960, and ascriptive inequalities, particularly by gender, have persisted throughout much ofthe latter half of this period. The implication of this is that in order to understand the larger processes shaping our economy, as well as the nature of work beyond self-employment, we are most likely to find answers in discussions about post-fordism.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Carleton University, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 165-177). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Zugleich: Diss. Mainz, 2007. / Literaturverz.

Thesis (MA--Social Science) -- AUT University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references. Also held in print (97 leaves ; 30 cm.) in the Archive at the City Campus (T 331.620993 LEE)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 248-260).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 248-260). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

No description available.

This thesis uses data from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) and a small scale survey on student entrepreneurship conducted by the School of Business and Economics at Swansea University, in assessing entrepreneurial intentions and transitions into self-employment. Analysis of entrepreneurial motivations has largely been confined to 'push' versus 'pull' factors. Very few studies, if any, have analysed individual-specific factors associated with entrepreneurial motivations. In addressing this issue, the analysis documents the extent to which there is heterogeneity amongst the self-employed on the basis of the motivations that they report for choosing self-employment. Multivariate regression analysis is employed using a method to control for self-selection into self-employment. Background characteristics such as gender, educational attainment, housing tenure and region of residence are found to be important factors influencing entrepreneurial motives. Relative to males, females are less likely to show entrepreneurial intent and subsequently participate in self-employment, however little is known about precisely why this is. Using decomposition analysis, the gap in entrepreneurial intent probabilities is examined across gender. Attitudes towards risk are found to be a major factor associated with the gap in average levels of entrepreneurial intentions between males and female students, accounting for very nearly half of the total gap. Within Wales there seems to exist a widespread perception that the younger population views entrepreneurship less positively than their counterparts elsewhere in the UK. The analysis examines whether differences in entrepreneurial intention probabilities between Welshdomiciled and non-Welsh domiciled students can be explained by a range of demographic factors, family characteristics and psychological traits. Family and other background influences are found to be important contributors to the non-Welsh and Welsh gap, while differences in risk attitudes appear to provide the largest single component of the intentions gap between the two groups. Entrepreneurs may differ from non-entrepreneurs in terms of a range of personal characteristics, family and social background and personal resources. Cognitive or behavioural factors may also be important in determining who becomes an entrepreneur. Data from the BHPS indicates that unrealistic optimism is significantly and positively associated with the probability of being both self-employed and an aspiring entrepreneur. Furthermore, unrealistic optimism is found to be persistent and a factor affecting duration in selfemployment.

This thesis examines the post childbirth employment behaviour of women in England and Wales who are self-employed during pregnancy. It presents a secondary analysis of nationally representative data for England and Wales via the 2001 Individual Sample of Anonymised Records and the Millennium Cohort Study (2001-2005).A multinomial regression analysis of Census data is used to assess self-employed labour supply for women of childbearing age. In addition to this a combination of descriptive statistics and logistic regressions are used to examine the post-childbirth employment trajectories and outcomes of women who worked as self-employed during pregnancy.The majority (eighty percent) of women who are self-employed during pregnancy go on leave from their job rather than finish work, and only seventeen percent of these women are absent from self-employment at nine months postpartum. A comparable percentage of employees make the same transitions back to work but the self-employed women return quicker, with twenty-five percent returning in less than one month. The factors associated with a continuation in employment can vary between the two types of work. Whilst educational qualifications are positively associated with continuing to work as an employee, this does not apply to those who are self-employed. Evidence suggests that maternity pay influences whether women continue in self-employment and the number of women who do not receive Statutory Maternity Pay or Maternity Allowance is a cause for concern. The thesis also considers such women’s preferred working hours, time with children, working schedules and autonomy as indicators of the mothers’ work-family balance. The data suggests that in England and Wales (2001-02) the women who returned to self-employment within nine months of birth did not have an increased work-family balance when compared to their employee counterparts. On the basis of the findings, I discuss the possibility that self-employed women may benefit from financial assistance beyond what is currently offered.

Recent transformations within modern economies have often been discussed under the concept of “restructuring”. However this term, despite its widespread use in sociology, has little explanatory power. What is needed instead is a consideration of how restructuring has taken place. Three major theoretical positions which attempt to provide this understanding are Marxist monopoly captialism, post-fordism and post-industrialism. Each of these paradigms provides a different understanding of the nature and operation of contemporary capitalist formations. My purpose in this thesis is to determine which of these different viewpoints is most applicable to the Canadian situation. I will do so through an examination of changes in the self-employed sector of the Canadian economy since 1960. The self-employed sector, besides being of intrinsic interest because of its recent attention by politicians and the popular media, is an important testing ground for the relative validity of the above theories in the Canadian context. Each framework is consistent with a set of well-defined and contrasting predictions about what should happen to the overall size of the self-employed sector, as well as expectations about the direction of ascriptive inequality, both within the sector and in the larger society. Using time series regression procedures, declines and increases in the size of the entrepreneurial sector over the last thirty or so years are documented. In addition, the importance of increases in the sector is examined by modelling the effect of unemployment on self-employment. Predictions about ascriptive inequalities are tested through an investigation of earnings functions within the self-employed and employed populations. The results of these analyses suggest that a post-fordist understanding of the contemporary Canadian economy is most appropriate. Self-employment has clearly increased since 1960, and ascriptive inequalities, particularly by gender, have persisted throughout much ofthe latter half of this period. The implication of this is that in order to understand the larger processes shaping our economy, as well as the nature of work beyond self-employment, we are most likely to find answers in discussions about post-fordism. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate