Entrepreneurship as Social Change: A Third Movements in Entrepreneurship Book

Citation

Ratten, V. (2007), "Entrepreneurship as Social Change: A Third Movements in Entrepreneurship Book", Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, Vol. 1 No. 3, pp. 285-285. https://doi.org/10.1108/17506200710779576

This edited book about social entrepreneurship includes a unique set of chapters written by various authors. The foreword describes how the book is the third in a series of four, with the theme of this book being earth as compared to previous themed books of air and water. The introduction states the aim of the book which is to examine entrepreneurship in the context of social change. The editors highlight the link of social entrepreneurship to other areas such as the environment and health sector together with the growing interest by entrepreneurship scholars in the area despite the slow start. The heterogeneity of social entrepreneurship in the world is highlighted as being a core component of the book. The editors also conceptualise and define social entrepreneurship.

Part one of the book titled Concepts of Social Entrepreneurship is divided into six chapters. The first chapter links Schumpeterian economics together with evolutionary economics theory to social entrepreneurship. The third chapter looks into the interrelationship of social and indigenous entrepreneurship. The fifth chapter on public entrepreneurship presents a relatively new area. The authors present six case studies from Sweden that provides an interesting look at citizen's perspectives. There is a good figure used by the authors to describe the nexus between social and public entrepreneurship. Chapter 6 has a useful discussion on the various realms of social entrepreneurship in terms of developing economic communities and non‐profit organisations. The author examines why social entrepreneurship has a good image.

Part two of the book contains six chapters that discuss a diverse range of subjects. Chapter 7 discusses social change in the English countryside between 1984 and 2004. It provides an interesting look at how entrepreneurship in rural communities has developed. Chapter 8 provides a discussion about regaining an entrepreneurial relationship with the earth and points out that only a small percentage of people in industrialised countries maintain an economic relationship with the land. Chapter 9 discusses the entrepreneurial spirit in a part of Southern Sweden and presents a useful typology of participants in social worlds. It would have been useful to include a separate conclusion chapter but the last chapter provided an interesting discussion on many of the issues included in the book. The narrative and flow of the book is superb and very interesting to read. The book is well edited and thought provoking which makes it a refreshing addition to the entrepreneurship literature.