Registering Ideology in the Creation of Social Entrepreneurs: Intermediary Organizations, 'Ideal Subject' and the Promise of Enjoyment

Research on social entrepreneurship has taken an increasing interest in issues pertaining to ideology. In contrast to existing research which tends to couch 'ideology' in pejorative terms (i.e., something which needs to be overcome), this paper conceives ideology as a key mechanism for ren...

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Veröffentlicht in:Journal of business ethics Jg. 142; H. 4; S. 753 - 767
Hauptverfasser: Dey, Pascal, Lehner, Othmar
Format: Journal Article
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: Dordrecht Springer 01.06.2017
Springer Netherlands
Springer Nature B.V
Schlagworte:
Attitudes
Business and Management
Business Ethics
Cues
Education
Enjoyment
Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurship
Ethics
Ideology
Justification
Management
Narratives
Organizational research
Perseveration
Philosophy
Pleasure
Politicization
Qualitative research
Quality of Life Research
Social entrepreneurship
Social networks
Hedonism
Enjoyment
Narratives
Social entrepreneurship
Ideology
Intermediary organizations
Affect
Ideal subject
ISSN:0167-4544, 1573-0697
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Zusammenfassung:Research on social entrepreneurship has taken an increasing interest in issues pertaining to ideology. In contrast to existing research which tends to couch 'ideology' in pejorative terms (i.e., something which needs to be overcome), this paper conceives ideology as a key mechanism for rendering social entrepreneurship an object with which people can identify. Specifically, drawing on qualitative research of arguably one of the most prolific social entrepreneurship intermediaries, the global Impact Hub network, we investigate how social entrepreneurship is narrated as an 'ideal subject,' which signals toward others what it takes to lead a meaningful (working) life. Taking its theoretical cues from the theory of justification advanced by Boltanski, Chiapello and Thevenaut, and from recent affect-based theorizing on ideology, our findings indicate that becoming a social entrepreneur is considered not so much a matter of struggle, hardship, and perseverance but rather of 'having fun.' We caution that the promise of enjoyment which pervades portrayals of the social entrepreneur might cultivate a passive attitude of empty 'pleasure' which effectively deprives social entrepreneurship of its more radical possibilities. The paper concludes by discussing the broader implications this hedonistic rendition of social entrepreneurship has and suggests a repoliticization of social entrepreneurship through a confronting with what Slavoj Žižek calls the 'impossible.'
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ISSN:0167-4544
1573-0697
DOI:10.1007/s10551-016-3112-z