Social entrepreneurship as field encroachment: how a neoliberal social movement constructed a new field

Spicer, Jason; Kay, Tamara; Ganz, Marshall

doi:10.1093/ser/mwz014

Cited by 39 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Foundations established by Silicon Valley tech entrepreneurs would go on to provide the majority of the $1.6 billion investments that flowed to self-identified ‘social entrepreneurship’ programmes between 2003 and 2016 (Spicer, Kay, & Ganz, 2019).…”

Section: The Emergence and Persistence Of Category Ambiguitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Persistent Category Ambiguity: The case of social entrepreneurship

Chliova

Mair

Vernis

2020

Organization Studies

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Literature on categories recognizes that in the early stages of a category, ambiguity can arise from divergent frames used to define the category. Yet it also largely expects this ambiguity to be either temporary, or else detrimental to the survival and evolution of the category. In this study, we demonstrate and explain how, alternatively, category ambiguity can persist when multiple frames continue to be applied to a category as it progresses into maturity. Drawing on an in-depth qualitative study of the case of social entrepreneurship, we examine how and under what conditions this outcome occurs. We specify two co-occurring conditions that prompt category stakeholders to shift their framing from exclusive to inclusive, enabling category ambiguity to persist. We furthermore show how the use of category frames that draw from pre-existing resonant categories supports the persistence of category ambiguity. We contribute to literature on categories by clarifying the antecedents of category evolution towards a trajectory of persistent ambiguity.

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Section: The Emergence and Persistence Of Category Ambiguitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Persistent Category Ambiguity: The case of social entrepreneurship

Chliova

Mair

Vernis

2020

Organization Studies

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“…We do not believe that business ventures are necessarily incompatible with social value creation. However, a contradiction may lie on how these profits are distributed: they can either be generated to be accumulated in the hands of one individual [what could possibly contradict the purpose of SE, Spicer et al (2019)] or they could be generated to be used to further extent the organization's social impact. Furthermore, NGOs, for example, may engage in commercial activities to support their social pursuit.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This suggests that although SE is still a contested concept (Choi & Majumdar, 2014), it is a phenomenon rendered important given its promise of delivering desired changes (Dey & Mason, 2018;Lumpkin, Bacq, & Pidduck, 2018;Nicholls, 2010). However, how SE leads to social change remains little known (Dey & Teasdale, 2013;Haugh & Talwar, 2016;Lumpkin et al, 2018;Seymour, 2012;Spicer, Kay & Ganz, 2019). This gap undermines the development of this (still) young field of study (Dwivedi & Weerawardena, 2018;Short, Moss, & Lumpkin, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social entrepreneurship and social change: a practice-based study in non-governmental organizations

Cavalcanti

2021

RAUSP

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Purpose This paper aims to examine how social entrepreneurship (SE) practices give rise to social change in the context of urban Brazil. Design/methodology/approach The study draws on a broader inductive, ethnographic and iterative practice-based study conducted in three Brazilian non-governmental organizations. Findings Social change is established through intertwined practices that involve active interplay of ambivalent positive and negative feelings associated with the social mission pursued by the social enterprise; flat organizational structures that encourage participation and taking of ownership among all stakeholders; and focused organizational objectives (social purposes). Research limitations/implications The paper presents an analytical framework composed of five propositions that may be used in future research aimed at maturing and refining the understanding of SE. The study also provides a methodological contribution for future studies of new phenomenon and young fields of research that often must rely on inductive methodologies, by demonstrating how an iterative thematic analysis can be used in practice-based studies. Practical implications This paper has practical implications directly connected to its social implications, because understanding how social change is achieved may enhance the effectiveness of SE practitioners in bringing desired changes about. Furthermore, the discussion also provided insights for practitioners to reflect upon the paradoxical nature of practices aimed at social change. Originality/value The study suggests a set of propositions and an original definition of SE that mitigates conceptual inconsistencies found in literature drawing on empirical data and by incorporating the political lens found in practice theory.

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“…Ostensibly a fast-track training provider for social work, Frontline has recently committed to the goal of changing the entire child protection social work system in England through A Blueprint for Children's Social Care (hereafter the Blueprint; MacAlister et al, 2019). Spicer et al (2019) describe how social entrepreneurs like Josh MacAlister, the CEO and founder of Frontline, create legitimacy for themselves and their projects by borrowing discourses and practices from existing community or political fields and marrying these to market logic, thereby disempowering traditional protest movements. Through this strategy, Fisher identifies that neoliberalism can recast any and all protest as simply evidence that privatisation and neoliberalism has not gone far enough.…”

Section: Co-option Of Language and Ambivalencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…A lack of defined ideology allows neoliberalism to trumpet its illusionary inclusivity to all people, all beliefs -to cast itself as 'for' many different, even contradictory, things at the same time. Spicer et al (2019) outline how the co-option of the language of resistance is a regular feature of social entrepreneurs, a group that has become increasingly prominent in social work in England through organisations such as Frontline. Ostensibly a fast-track training provider for social work, Frontline has recently committed to the goal of changing the entire child protection social work system in England through A Blueprint for Children's Social Care (hereafter the Blueprint; MacAlister et al, 2019).…”

Section: Co-option Of Language and Ambivalencementioning

confidence: 99%

A Fisher-eye lens on social work reform

McGrath-Brookes

Hanley

Higgins

2020

Journal of Social Work

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Summary Mark Fisher’s Capitalist Realism, published in 2009, has been recognised as one of the most important contributions chronicling the rise, application and consequences of neoliberalism. However, Fisher’s ideas have until now only garnered passing mention in the study of neoliberalism in children and families social work in England, despite there being extensive research, argument and publication on the subject more broadly. This article attempts to rectify this gap and apply Fisher’s theory to the recent reforms in children and families social work in England. Findings The article applies Fisher’s commentary on the co-option of language, invoking crisis, bureaucracy and proposing change to implement no change, to the reforms in children and families social work that began with the implementation of Reclaiming Social Work in 2008. Since that time, the original architects of Reclaiming Social Work have gained significant positions of power and influence and been instrumental in introducing neoliberal reforms throughout children and families social work in England. Applications Through applying the approach and concepts of Mark Fisher, this article concludes that it is possible to determine that the current reforms are, at their core, neoliberal in nature and driven by an ideological imperative to transform children and families social work in England into a neoliberal edifice, with less public sector and state input and oversight and an increase in the influence of ‘not-for-profits’, charities and international for-profit consultancies.

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Social entrepreneurship as field encroachment: how a neoliberal social movement constructed a new field

Cited by 39 publications

References 51 publications

Persistent Category Ambiguity: The case of social entrepreneurship

Persistent Category Ambiguity: The case of social entrepreneurship

Social entrepreneurship and social change: a practice-based study in non-governmental organizations

A Fisher-eye lens on social work reform

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