Social Enterprise Journal

Purpose – In recent discussions on social entrepreneurship, there have been calls for the discipline to make better use of general theories of entrepreneurship. This article seeks to argue that while the literature may not be explicitly theoretical, it often draws upon taken-for-granted concepts inherited from Joseph Schumpeter.

Design/methodology/approach – The text seeks to identify Schumpeterian assumptions within the social entrepreneurship literature, and introduce alternative perspectives on “the social” and “entrepreneurship”, drawn from the social theory of Gabriel Tarde. These are then discussed in the context of the social entrepreneurial initiative Hand in Hand.

Findings – The article identifies and re-assesses three assumptions: that of the social as container; that of capitalism-specific societal dynamism; and that of the atomistic, non-inventive entrepreneur.

Originality/value – By re-imagining “the social” and “entrepreneurship” through the work of Tarde, the article suggests that scholars can develop new conceptualisations of social entrepreneurship.