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Entrepreneurship as Cultural Theme in Neoliberal Society

Patricia Bromley (Stanford University, USA)

John W. Meyer (Stanford University, USA)

Ruo Jia (Stanford University, USA)

Entrepreneurialism and Society: New Theoretical Perspectives

ISBN: 978-1-80382-658-5, eISBN: 978-1-80382-657-8

Publication date: 22 September 2022

Abstract

We argue that entrepreneurship emerged as a celebrated global cultural ideology during the neoliberal era; it is a product of the intensified celebration of the individual as the source of progress. As a result of these cultural roots, contemporary ideas of entrepreneurship are constituted by intertwined dimensions that reflect the sacred status of individuals; namely, vision and leadership. We illustrate our arguments about the expanded discursive celebration of entrepreneurship and its dimensions using the empirical example of changes in the content of Harvard Business Review articles over time. Our analysis of 13,117 abstracts and titles over the period 1925–2019 show an early focus on concrete industry settings, followed by a period dominated by formal organization and management, and then the rise of a focus on entrepreneurship, vision, and leadership since the 1990s. As a cultural trend, the discursive valorization of entrepreneurship is disconnected from the typical entrepreneurial experience (of failure) and from actual founding rates of new ventures (which decline in recent years). Moreover, the shift from liberal to neoliberal cultural ideologies supported a fundamental transformation away from formal management and organization and toward leadership and entrepreneurship. If the cultural foundations shift again, as recent global declines in democracy and trade suggest may be occurring, we are likely to see changes in the nature of the favored models for structuring economy and society.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Howard Aldrich, Albert Bergesen, Bob Eberhart, Dev Jennings, Michael Lounsbury, Francisco Ramirez, Tim Weiss, and participants at the “Reversing the Arrow” Conferences at Lake Tahoe, CA in 2019 and 2021 for thoughtful comments. The Korean National Research Foundation (NRF-2017S1A3A2067636) provided support.

Citation

Bromley, P., Meyer, J.W. and Jia, R. (2022), "Entrepreneurship as Cultural Theme in Neoliberal Society", Eberhart, R.N., Lounsbury, M. and Aldrich, H.E. (Ed.) Entrepreneurialism and Society: New Theoretical Perspectives (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 81), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 55-75. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X20220000081004

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited