On the basis of the comparative and transdisciplinary analysis, a final objective of the SHARE project is to conduct an in-depth European study on how the solo self-employed are measured, classified and represented. Comparing contrasting cases will shed light on trends moving in the same direction, as well as on those that are diverging, in continental and Southern Europe. Differentiation, in particular, is rooted in national histories, diverse socioeconomic and political phenomena at multiple institutional scales, as well as in interactions among individual and collective actors. It also derives from corporate doctrines, such as flexibility and the ideology of individualism and competitiveness, as well as the ideology of sharing and cooperation.
In this phase of the project, the main European labour force surveys (e.g. the Labour Force Survey and the European Working Conditions Survey) will be analysed, and a new classification for the solo self-employed will be proposed on the basis of the research results obtained through the transdisciplinary analysis. Moreover, European Union laws will be analysed and critically discussed on the basis of both the national law cases and the results obtained by the analysis of national surveys, as well as the multi-sited, cross-national ethnographic study of solo self-employment. At the same time, the practices of organising by the European solo self-employed unions and associations will also be analysed. Among the main collective actors at the European level to be contacted are: the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC); the network of individuals, communities, associations, organisations and cooperatives organising the European Freelancers Week; and SMart.eu, a freelancer cooperative, which is currently based in nine European countries.
Therefore, in addition to the scientific return of research findings, the SHARE project also aims to discuss its results with collective actors and policy-makers, with the objective to develop a new approach to the emergent and hybrid areas of work with both theoretical and applied relevance.