Towards a mythic process philosophy of entrepreneurship

The Social Imaginary of Emancipation in Entrepreneurship

“…Is there a place for the past in theorizing and practicing entrepreneurship? It should go without saying that advantages accrue from using historical means (Baumol, 1996;Schumpeter, 1947;Wadhwani et al, 2020) to initiate deeper conversations about time (Lévesque & Stephan, 2020;Wood et al, 2020) and to investigate the specific entrepreneurial journeys that-like Siddhartha's quest for enlightenment-lead people from one place to another, and then onwards to yet another (Laine & Kibler, 2018;McMullen & Dimov, 2013). In particular, we argue that historical sensitivity can help us understand the present and illuminate entrepreneurship in ways missed by temporality-shunning approaches.…”

“…In this way, a theory becomes representative of "truth" when it aligns with the social imaginary's practical concern for the future (Heidegger, 1962). The social world can be understood according to the way in which actions within it fit with what is anticipated as coming (Schütz, 1932), while the means for sustaining a sense of continuity despite the inevitability of social change is provided by imagination (Cornelissen, 2013;Laine & Kibler, 2018;McMullen et al, 2020). Hence, we consider the social imaginary neither as a particular theoretical approach nor as a method, but rather as an ongoing hermeneutical involvement with the way the social world works-which is typically related to theorizing in an ambiguous manner.…”

“…If we transport emancipation to the heart of entrepreneurship theorizing, what type of transitions would then be necessary in the social imaginary? Although it is difficult to rid entrepreneurship research of a certain romantic fixation on the heroic entrepreneurial individual (Laine & Kibler, 2018;McMullen, 2017), or of the image of a tightly bundled super-group, this may be better regarded as a strength rather than weakness of the field, for it enables very different viewpoints to contribute to our theorizing and social critique. Our imagination is sparked by considering the ways in which, for example, Van Gogh (Cornelissen, 2013), Ai Weiwei (Hjorth & Holt, 2016), or Picasso (Olive-Tomas & Harmeling, 2019), could lend themselves to entrepreneurial readings, let alone Gandhi or Guevara.…”

“…In this tale, emancipation is the result of understanding, but this equation is often painful for it requires also the questioning of the self. On this entrepreneurial journey, Siddhartha aims at reinventing himself by entering new, unfamiliar, and even discomforting territories of social action (Laine & Kibler, 2018). By thus transposing the moral order, Siddhartha urges reinterpretations of the social imaginary of entrepreneurship as having social progress at its core.…”

Pitääkö yrittäjän elää yrittäjän elämä?

“…Yrittäjien ajatellaan tyypillisesti olevan dynaamisia, rohkeita, ulospäinsuuntautuneita ja sankarimaisia nuoria miehiä (Ferry ym. 2018;Laine & Kibler 2018). Mediassa menestyvinä yrittäjinä esiintyvät yrittäjyydessä menestyneet henkilöt, kuten Ryanairin perustaja Michael O'Leary (Anderson & Warren 2011).…”