ABSTRACT
Discussing self-employment as an alternative for the future has a certain whiff of futility about it, given the trend of society. Generally, the self-employed are thought to be pursuing a specialization such as writing or mechanics, but they must devote sizable chunks of time to playing the many roles of an institution. There are the meaningful little rituals that the self-employed create to celebrate their freedom. No less dramatic than the new sense of time are those crises of identity which occur to the newly self-employed when others find that they have encountered a bona fide weirdo without a boss. Despite the steady decline in the self-employed population, there are some encouraging developments which deserve aid and comfort. If educational change in the direction of self-employment is far off and, perhaps, never destined to be implemented, other institutional changes have begun to occur.
