Young entrepreneurs in modern-day Slovenia: Introduction to an emerging subject [Introduction to Thematic Section]

Abstract

In the fall of 2021, one of Slovenia's commercial TV stations ran the sixth season of the TV series titled Štartaj Slovenija ('Slovenia Start'), which presents stories about careers of young entrepreneurs to the general public and promotes their products sold at one of the retail chains. Around 40 entrepreneurial teams were featured on the programme, since it first aired in 2016. With the hosts advising the featured entrepreneurs on how to develop their products and the series telling the public that most anyone can try their hand at being an entrepreneur, the TV series presents much like an educational programme. Semantically the series title conveys two messages: a call for Slovenia to take a more entrepreneurial path, and a reference to the concept of start-up as a new and innovative company format. The title can also work as a "slogan" (Makovicky et al. 2019) that publically promotes certain values, career opportunities, and ways of selfrecognition that correspond with the contemporary neoliberal state project. Furthermore, since, in Slovenian, the word start rings like slang, and since its reference to start-ups is not familiar to all age groups, the title resonates primarily with young people. As the director general of the retail chain behind this TV series stated in a 2017 interview, they conceived it as a socially-conscious project which would restore the public's trust in the feasibility of success in Slovenia by featuring young entrepreneurs (Križnik 2017).But why young people specifically? The director general viewed young people in two contrasting ways. On one hand he thought many "do not believe it is possible to be successful in Slovenia. They are emigrating in droves. The statistic that in 2015 three times more young people between the ages of 25 and 35 sought opportunities abroad

Deindustrializacija in prihodnost: Izkušnje časa po stečaju tovarne Mura

“…V takšnih okvirih usmerjenost v prihodnost nikakor ni nevtralna, temveč je politični imperativ, usmerjen v aktivacijo posameznika. Pozivi k »premiku naprej«, v prihodnost, so neposredno povezani s paradigmo samoodgovornosti (Vodopivec, 2012;Kozorog, 2021), s preoblikovanimi normami etičnega in aktivnega državljanstva: posameznik naj bi prihodnost vzel sam v svoje roke, pa naj gre za zaposljivost na tržišču dela, socialno varnost, socialne inovacije ali za aktivno državljanstvo.…”

“…V raziskavi sem obravnavala generacijo ljudi, 29 ki je zaradi neaktivnosti 30 v družbi obveljala kot obsojena in izgubljena. Prevladujoča vizija prihodnosti je bila in ostaja utemeljena na mlajši podjetniški generaciji (Kozorog, 2021;Simonič, 2021). Zaradi vsega naštetega se zavzemam, da o prihodnosti razmišljajmo tudi v povezavi z deindustrializacijo in ne izhajamo zgolj iz postindustrijske paradigme razvoja, ki zakriva razlastitev in družbene neenakosti.…”

“…In my research, I focused on the generation of people who were considered doomed and lost because of their inactivity (the term was transferred from the administrative categories of the labor market to everyday life). The overall vision of the future in Slovenia is based on the younger entrepreneurs (Kozorog, 2021;Simonič, 2021). Therefore, I urge to include deindustrialization in the studies of the future and not to assume only (uncritically) the postindustrial paradigm; this paradigm hides industrial) labor dispossession and social inequalities.…”

“…Kritični so do neposrednega prevajanja ekonomske in družbene neenakosti v kulturno razliko. Delavski razred je z deindustrializacijo postal feminiziran 6 Miha Kozorog je v raziskovalnem projektu z nekaterimi drugimi raziskovalkami in raziskovalci obravnaval normativno podobo podjetniškega sebstva med mladimi, v medijih, izobraževanju in različnih politikah, hkrati pa je raziskoval tudi subjektivno doživljanje mladih podjetnikov (Kozorog, 2021). in diskurzivno asociiran s smetmi (Munt, 2000).…”