Self-Employment in Vocational Rehabilitation Building on Lessons from Rural America

With this document, the Research and Training Center on Rural Rehabilitation Services prompts us to think anew about the possibilities of self-employment. Self-employment is a part of the American dream. People are drawn to the notion of working for themselves in a way they are not attracted to working for someone else. Americans think of self-employment as a way to control their own futures and to make work more fulfilling. Self-employment is individualistic, but also has a strong connection to the cultural make-up of the country. It stresses independence and self-sufficiency, but is also believed to promote economic vitality for the country as a whole. It is often thought to be a route to economic well-being, but may be accepted as simply a way to get by without yielding to someone else’s control over one’s work. In short, the psychological and social dimensions of self-employment speak to some ancient and unshakable part of the human psyche