About the Author

Sergio Bologna was born in Trieste (Italy). He started an academic career after a short work experience at the Press and Advertising Department of Olivetti. He taught at the universities of Trento, Padua and Bremen. In 1985 he left the university and founded a Buro of management consulting, sharing life and work experience of freelancers. Since 1991 he publishes books and articles on the social condition of independent work. He is a founder of the Italian freelancers’ movement and co-founder of the group Potere Operaio and magazines such as 'Classe Operaia' and' Primo Maggio'.

Reviews

"These essays raise profoundly important and fundamental questions about the reality and the context of self-employment. It is so refreshing to read such well informed questioning, when the norm has been so often to see autonomous workers as simply a residual category in the labour market and rarely worthy of serious examination."-- "Patricia Leighton, Professor of European Law at IPAG Business School, France"

"Through an in-depth sociological and historical analysis of the freelance movement, Sergio Bologna draws a portrait that allows us to better under stand the characteristics and importance of freelance workers, and he offers new perspectives on how collective strategies must be implemented."-- "Sandrino Graceffa, CEO of SMart cooperative"

"Today's freelancers might think they are absolute beginners, but Bologna's masterful history of self-employment sets the record straight. A landmark book in every respect."-- "Andrew Ross, Author of Nice Work If You Can Get It: Life and Labor in Precarious Times"