Social Entrepreneurship: An Affirmative Critique

Pascal Dey and Chris Steyaert provide a timely critique on the idea of social entrepreneurship and its reputation as a means for positive social change. The book uses different traditions and modes of critique to interrogate, disrupt and reimagine the concept of social entrepreneurship. Presented in five parts, each individual contribution uses a different critical perspective to analyse and assess social entrepreneurship in its mythological, ideological and performative constitution, looking for its democratic possibilities and alternative affirmations. Using varied analytical approaches, the resulting work highlights the need for a greater recognition of the unintended effects of social entrepreneurship and in doing so, adds nuance to a concept that has gone relatively unchallenged. In addition, each chapter identifies intriguing points for further research.Scholars in the fields of social entrepreneurship, management and organizational studies will find this a relevant and insightful work. Those with a wider scholarly interest in critical research, particularly in the humanities or social sciences, will also find the critical approaches compelling.