An Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship

This timely book sets social entrepreneurship in a historical context, from its philanthropic beginnings in the Victorian era to the present day, against the backdrop of contemporary global capitalism.

Starting with contributions from social entrepreneurs and innovators, this anthology describes the workings of social entrepreneurship and explores its import as a gauge of contemporary social, environmental and economic conditions. Drawing on perspectives from cultural theory, history and sociology, the authors investigate the theory of entrepreneurship, the culture of management and the forgotten antecedents of social entrepreneurship.

The volume then puts social entrepreneurship in the context of the goals and struggles for sustainable development and the modernisation of the welfare state in the global North and South. Its cultural approach will make this book an introduction for students in the liberal arts; its disciplinary perspectives will make it a useful tool for academics and students in the fields of cultural theory, sociology and entrepreneurship as well as development studies.

Edited by Rafael Ziegler, Professor, Department of Management, HEC Montreal and Director, Institut International des Coopératives Dorismène et Alphonse Desjardins, Montreal, Canada