Indigenous Development and the Cultural Captivity of Entrepreneurship

This article argues that thinking about entrepreneurship as a potential instrument for relief from endemic poverty and disadvantage, especially among the Indigenous, has all too often been captive to a concept of entrepreneurship that is built out of constrained economic and cultural assumptions. Th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Business & society 2013-12, Vol.52 (4), p.592-620
Main Authors: Peredo, Ana María, McLean, Murdith
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Business
Constraints
Construction
Cultural Change
Culture
Cultures and civilizations
Development sociology
Economics
Entrepreneurship
Ethnic groups. Acculturation. Cultural identity
Indigenous Populations
Native culture
Policies
Policy Making
Poverty
Sociology
Sociology of economy and development
Studies
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Summary:This article argues that thinking about entrepreneurship as a potential instrument for relief from endemic poverty and disadvantage, especially among the Indigenous, has all too often been captive to a concept of entrepreneurship that is built out of constrained economic and cultural assumptions. The authors develop this argument from a critical discussion of contributions by Karl Polanyi and Robert Heilbroner. The result is that approaches to venture have been encouraged that are sometimes a poor fit for the circumstances of those they are meant to benefit, and other forms that could have considerable promise have gone unexplored. This article outlines some features of Indigenous culture and build on the analysis of David Harper to construct an improved notion of entrepreneurship that allows for these distinctive features. The article concludes that research and policy making concerning entrepreneurship as an instrument of development among the Indigenous need to be undertaken with this reconstructed understanding of entrepreneurship that is a better fit for the realities of Indigenous culture.
ISSN:0007-6503
1552-4205
DOI:10.1177/0007650309356201