Speculative futures at the bottom of the pyramid

Abstract

Celebrated as creative, flexible catalysts of inclusive capitalism, urban youth are central to bottom‐of‐the‐pyramid (BoP) models of development, which set out to repurpose the jobless as entrepreneurs in the making. We explore the multiple (at times conflicting) temporalities – the practices, technologies, and representations of time – which figure in a BoP initiative offering entrepreneurial opportunities to unemployed youth in Nairobi's slums: from the invocation of clock‐time discipline to the professional time of entrepreneurial subjectivities and the enchantments of the not‐yet. But the appeal of BoP, we suggest, does not turn either on the here‐and‐now of survival or on an impossible pipe dream of prosperity, but rather resides firmly in the medium term: a foreseeable future of modest desires, which nonetheless remain tantalizingly just out of reach for most. By examining how these temporal conflicts play out in attempts to fashion a cadre of self‐willed, aspiring entrepreneurs, we reveal the limits to entrepreneurial agency, and the contradictions inherent in the mission of (self‐)empowerment through enterprise upon which the ideology of inclusive markets is built.

Cognitive Frames of Poverty and Tension Handling in Base-of-the-Pyramid Business Models

“…This indicates that companies are far from replacing conventional actors aiming at poverty reduction, such as NGOs and public entities. This study supports critical views on businesses improving poverty at the BOP on a large scale and scope (Blowfield & Dolan, 2014;Chatterjee, 2014;Dolan & Rajak, 2018;Karnani, 2017). The focus on tensions and responses to tensions further contribute to a poverty-focused research perspective in the BOP claimed by several authors (Dembek et al, 2020;Halme et al, 2012;Kolk et al, 2014).…”

Happily-ever after: Self-marriage, the claim of wellness, and temporal ownership

“…Scholarship on temporality has extensively theorized the workings of time as a key mechanism for the creation of social order, meaning and orientation in the world (Beynon-Jones & Grabham, 2019; Dolan & Rajak, 2018; Elias, 1992; Halberstam, 2005; Mains, 2007; Zerubavel, 1981). Through the social construction of temporal maps and schedules, collectives render the abstract flow of time into standardized and synchronized – that is, manageable and purposeful – charts.…”

“…Relatedly, Jie Yang showed how in China, state-endorsed happiness and self-cultivation campaigns urge citizens – mostly the marginalized poor – to ‘move forward’, by forgetting the misery of the past, creating a fulfilling present, and looking forward to a potentially happy future (Yang, 2013). As neoliberal temporalities urge individuals to maximize their choices (Benton et al, 2017) – making the most out of time (Dolan & Rajak, 2018) – failure to realize the neoliberal promise of moving forward leads to the sense of stuckness in an impossible, unrewarding present (Mains, 2007; Yian, 2004).…”

European social anthropology in 2018: an increasingly recursive public

“…Indeed, a range of recent scholarship, especially research exploring brokerage (Chalhi, Koster and Vermeulen ; James 2018; Lindquist ; Koster and van Leynseele 2018), points to a generalised retreat of straightforward labour relations as a means of organising social life (see also Mattioli ). For instance, Dolan and Rajak () identify renewed interest in global development circles in promoting ‘entrepreneurship’ among the underemployed at the ‘bottom of the pyramid’ – which only seems like a short step from another phenomenon on the rise: pyramid schemes (Schiffauer , ).…”