Proprietism is an

economic system An economic system, or economic order, is a system of Production (economics), production, resource allocation and Distribution (economics), distribution of goods and services within a society or a given geographic area. It includes the combinati ...

composed of a vast network of sole-proprietorships.

Origins

The rise of an independent workforce was documented by

Daniel H. Pink Daniel H. Pink (born July 23, 1964) is an American author. He has written seven books; five of them are ''New York Times'' bestsellers. He was a host and a co- executive producer of the 2014 National Geographic Channel social science TV series ...

in his 2001 book ''Free Agent Nation: The Future of Working for Yourself''. Depending on the precise definition of an independent worker, reports on the topic estimate this type of worker to be somewhere between thirty and forty percent of the entire workforce in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, and analysis of the data reveals the trend to be rising. The ideology and term proprietism originated in the

blogosphere The blogosphere is made up of all blogs and their interconnections. The term implies that blogs exist together as a connected community (or as a collection of connected communities) or as a social networking service in which everyday authors can p ...

, initially in 2012 by Nick Wilson of proprietist.com and then was further developed from 2013 onward by Paul Kurke of proprietism.com.

Sara Horowitz Sara Horowitz (born January 13, 1963) is a founder of the Freelancers Union and a proponent of mutualism. She has been working for unions since age 18, when she held a summer internship at the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. She h ...

has also acknowledged the rise of independent contract workers, and has encouraged the movement by creating the

Freelancers Union Freelancers Union is a nonprofit organization based in New York City that provides advocacy, programming and curated insurance benefits for freelancers through partnerships. The organization dessiminates information through monthly meetings. Rafa ...

, a

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

for free agents.

Core Concepts

As in

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for Profit (economics), profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, pric ...

, the resources of a proprietist system are allocated through

market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market Geography *Märket, an ...

forces, though proprietism differs from capitalism because the structure implies a more decentralized ownership of capital, similar to that of a company with an

employee stock ownership plan Employee stock ownership, or employee share ownership, is where a company's employees own shares in that company (or in the parent company of a group of companies). US employees typically acquire shares through a share option plan. In the UK, Em ...

. According to Kurke, proprietism has the potential to resolve the principal-agent problem by structurally realigning productivity and innovation with compensation, assuming advances in

information systems An information system (IS) is a formal, sociotechnical, organizational system designed to collect, process, information storage, store, and information distribution, distribute information. From a sociotechnical perspective, information systems a ...

continue. Kurke argues that proprietism already exists in the

zeitgeist In 18th- and 19th-century German philosophy, a ''Zeitgeist'' () ("spirit of the age") is an invisible agent, force or Daemon dominating the characteristics of a given epoch in world history. Now, the term is usually associated with Georg W. F. ...

, especially among

millennials Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the Western demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000 ...

."Millennials and Proprietism"
"Proprietism". Retrieved 19 July 2015.

References

{{Reflist, 2 Economic ideologies Economic systems

Origins

Core Concepts

See also

References