Title: Ideology and the subjectification of the entrepreneurial self

Authors: Alexander Styhre

Addresses: Fenix Research Program and Department of Project Management, Chalmers University of Technology, Aschebergsgatan 46, Vasaomradet Hus 3, S-412 96 Goteborg, Sweden

Abstract: Entrepreneurship is becoming one of the key concepts in management thinking and is treated as what is capable of dealing with a variety of social problems and managerial challenges. However, the idea of entrepreneurship is based on a series of ideological assumptions that are rarely addressed in (mainstream) entrepreneurship literature. This conceptual paper aims at exploring entrepreneurship as a form of subjectification embedded in a number of social institutions. The main reference in this undertaking is Althusser|s writing on |the ideological state apparatus| as what is providing meaningful and productive subject-positions in contemporary society. The paper concludes that a more self-reflexive view of entrepreneurship would enable for a more elaborated theory of the entrepreneur, moving beyond the one-sided enthusiasm for the concept at times displayed in the field.

Keywords: entrepreneurship; ideology; ideological state apparatus; subjectification; management studies; organisation theory.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMCP.2005.007929

International Journal of Management Concepts and Philosophy, 2005 Vol.1 No.2, pp.168 - 173

Published online: 01 Oct 2005 *

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