48

This article compares the significance of self-entrepreneurship in France and individual micro-enterprises in Brazil in the redefinition of employment standards of both countries. Self-entrepreneurship employment forms are located at the intersection between independent, salaried and informal work. The first part of the article traces the socio-historical dynamics of these constitutive categories of employment regimes in both countries. From the previous socio-historical analysis and from both national public debates in the period of institutionalisation of self-entrepreneurship, the second part situates self-entrepreneurship in their national contexts. The third part presents a comparative sociology of self-entrepreneurs in France and Brazil based on portraits from both countries.