TY - JOUR
T1 - Registering Ideology in the Creation of Social Entrepreneurs: Intermediary Organizations
AU - Dey, Pascal
AU - Lehner, Othmar M.
PY - 2016/4
Y1 - 2016/4
N2 - 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 of
ideology as a key mechanism for rendering social entrepreneurship an object with which
people can identify. Specifically, drawing on qualitative research of one of the most prolific
social entrepreneurship intermediaries, the Impact Hub, 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 Luc Boltanski’s theory of
justification and from recent affect-based theorizing on ideology, our findings indicate that
becoming a social entrepreneur gets framed less as a matter of struggle, hardship and
perseverance than 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 forecloses the properly political. The paper concludes by discussing the
broader implications this hedonistic rendition of social entrepreneurship has, thus suggesting a
re-politicization of social entrepreneurship through a confronting with the ‘impossible’
AB - 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 of
ideology as a key mechanism for rendering social entrepreneurship an object with which
people can identify. Specifically, drawing on qualitative research of one of the most prolific
social entrepreneurship intermediaries, the Impact Hub, 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 Luc Boltanski’s theory of
justification and from recent affect-based theorizing on ideology, our findings indicate that
becoming a social entrepreneur gets framed less as a matter of struggle, hardship and
perseverance than 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 forecloses the properly political. The paper concludes by discussing the
broader implications this hedonistic rendition of social entrepreneurship has, thus suggesting a
re-politicization of social entrepreneurship through a confronting with the ‘impossible’
M3 - Article
SN - 0167-4544
VL - 133
JO - Journal of Business Ethics
JF - Journal of Business Ethics
IS - 2
ER -