Entrepreneurship as Social Change: A Third Movements in Entrepreneurship Book

Citation

Warren, L. (2007), "Entrepreneurship as Social Change: A Third Movements in Entrepreneurship Book", International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, Vol. 13 No. 5, pp. 323-325. https://doi.org/10.1108/13552550710780894

This book is third of four in the Movements in Entrepreneurship series edited by Chris Steyaert and Daniel Hjorth, organised around the metaphor of the elements water, air, earth and fire. The books have each been developed from intensive “writer's workshops” sponsored by ESBRI, the Swedish Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research Institute located in Stockholm. This particular book, associated with “earth” focuses on social entrepreneurship, with the editors posing the question, “what is social in social entrepreneurship” as the opening gambit in the introduction on page 1. In doing so, they set a challenging agenda, which is to investigate the connection between entrepreneurship, social change and societal transformation. Rather than be content with “social entrepreneurship” becoming a managerial, political and educational fad in its own right, the introduction sets out a clarion call to make entrepreneurship social, to “imagine and invent new possibilities, to contribute to its heterogeneity and democratic spread in society, and to reach out for the well‐being of all on this earth (p. 2)”.

The introduction goes on to examine the position and context of social entrepreneurship in the academic field, arguing that the connection between entrepreneurship and social change needs to be seen in a broader and more critical light. The metaphorical linkage to “earth” is also explored, locating the papers to come in practice‐oriented studies where the mundane and the relational are emphasised, rather than “grand narratives” of entrepreneurship research that privilege the singular alert individual recognising an opportunity and growing an organisation accordingly. Thus, the editors claim, multiple contexts and territorialisations of entrepreneurship are presented, a process of democratisation that contributes to society's capacity to act entrepreneurially.

In total, 19 authors have contributed 12 chapters to the book, organised in two separate sections: firstly, Concepts of Social Entrepreneurship, where the emphasis is on the notion of “social entrepreneurship” as a construct for research and secondly, Contexts of Social Change, where the practice of entrepreneurship in localised contexts is shown to be constitutive of social change. Turning first to the Concepts section, this commences with a chapter by Richard Swedberg that traces Schumpeter's views on the relationship between entrepreneurship and both economic and social change. An important theme in this closely argued chapter is the importance for locating conceptualisations of social entrepreneurship in the historical theoretical context of the field. In Chapter 2, Yohanan Stryjan sets out to reframe social entrepreneurship in the context of a resource perspective, again teasing out conceptual links between social entrepreneurship and the mainstream. In Chapter 3, Robert Anderson, Benson Honig and Ana Maria Peredo introduce the context of indigenous communities for the study of social entrepreneurship, linking localised practices in the community to the global context. In Chapter 5, Ellen O'Connor focuses on “high‐profile social entrepreneurship” a chapter that challenges how a particular interpretation of social entrepreneurship in elite business schools can bring a market‐orientation of social issues, promoting the professionalisation of the non‐profit and public sectors. O'Connor sets out a more participatory “grass roots” articulation of the concept. Daniel Hjorth and Bjorn Berke too, in Chapter 6, resist consumerist, market‐focused understandings of social entrepreneurship. The section concludes with Pascal Dey's deconstruction of the academic literature on social entrepreneurship which is shown to emphasise technical rationality and progressive economic development at the expense of a wider range of voices and possibilities. In summary, this section presents a diverse set of viewpoints on the conceptual, theoretical and philosophical underpinnings of social entrepreneurship. Strong challenges are presented to the uncritical acceptance of market‐dominated readings of social entrepreneurship that seem to be gaining acceptance in educational and political circles. As such this section is essential reading for anyone claiming social entrepreneurship as a research agenda.

Moving on to the Contexts section, the tenor of the book shifts to a series of finely‐worked examples which demonstrate that entrepreneurship practice at the local level initiates change in various social settings, relationships and communities. The section commences with Chapter 7 from Denise Fletcher and Tony Watson, who study the meanings people give to their lives when shifting from urban to rural communities and how such shifts facilitate and actualise change through the realisation of market opportunities. Chapter 8, from Kathryn Campbell, draws strongly on the “earth” metaphor, connecting the practice of gardening with a sustainable entrepreneurial ethic for “Mother Earth”. Bengt Johannisson and Caroline Wigren in Chapter 9, and, in a different setting in Chapter 10, Monica Lindgren and Johann Packendorff trace the forces that shape the identities of towns in transition from the past to the future, considering how seeds may be provided for reconstructing entrepreneurship and initiating social change. In Chapter 11, Karin Berglund presents an interplay between identity and discourse as two women undertake a two‐year journey to become entrepreneurs, highlighting how entrepreneurship is made visible in society. Finally, Timon Beyes explores the spaces in urban life where social change and transformation may be constituted through entrepreneurial activities. Taken as a whole, these chapters demonstrate, through a range of methodological and conceptual lenses, how small narratives can illustrate the multiple possibilities and pathways for social change through entrepreneurial practice. The highly readable accounts illustrate vividly how the grand narrative of the entrepreneurial hero excludes much of the richness to be found in everyday enactments of entrepreneurial practice.

To conclude then, this book is a reflective and scholarly work that presents exciting and challenging views to mainstream entrepreneurship, not only reframing social entrepreneurship before its arteries harden into market‐driven “solutions” for social issues, but also rethinking how entrepreneurship itself is constitutive of social change. This ethos will not surprise anyone familiar with the New Movements series, or indeed with the work of Chris Steyaert and Daniel Hjorth more generally, and no doubt those researchers in that category will enjoy this text. More widely, the book should appeal to academics and students with an interest in the development of entrepreneurship theory and practice along sociological lines, or to anyone who wishes to develop understandings of entrepreneurship as a societal phenomenon. The four books comprising the series (the fourth is yet to be published) would certainly be a valuable addition to any entrepreneurship library. However, each book also stands alone as an individual purchase.