Entrepreneurs and the Search for the American Dream (Framing 21st Century Social Issues) - Softcover

Valdez, Zulema

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1138922552 ISBN 13: 9781138922556

Publisher: Routledge, 2015

Synopsis

The book's central focus explores several "myths" associated with American entrepreneurship: the idea that small business owners are "job creators"; that entrepreneurs are the "backbone" or "engine" of the economy; that entrepreneurship provides a path of economic mobility for immigrants, ethnic and racial minorities, and women; that the Horatio Algiers "rags to riches" story is possible for anyone willing to work hard. Instead, I provide a critical perspective that challenges these myths of American enterprise, arguing that successful entrepreneurship requires access to social and economic capital resources and support that are often distributed along the lines of race, class, and gender in the highly stratified American economy and society.

About this title

About the Author:

Zulema Valdez is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Merced. Her interests include intersectionality, Latino/a Sociology, and social inequality. She is the author of The New Entrepreneurs: How Race, Class and Gender Shape American Enterprise (Stanford, 2011).

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1138922552
• ISBN 13: 9781138922556
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 76