Jeppe Høst, Postdoc:

Anti-capitalists? A new generation of self-employed

The self-employed and partly family-based enterprises, which were in focus in the first life-mode analysis, appear today to co-exist along with a new generation of companies that are based on new technologies, knowledge and food production. However, the past three decades have  been marked by a development towards large-scale industries and an increased use of information-intensive technologies in the production.

In addition the entrance costs in the traditional primary productions such as agriculture and fisheries make it almost impossible for young families of today to see a meaningful life as entrepreneurs in these fields. Further, the technological development and the resulting qualitative changes in production have removed the preconditions for the many self-employed occupied with servicing farms and the productive industries in their local area. The point is that the increasing use of information technology, information and science in the production and public administration creates new niches for smaller enterprises that can earn a living from delivering knowledge-based services. 

Studying this I focus on two research areas:

* self-employed knowledge-based entrepreneurs 

* new wave quality food producers