Family Entrepreneurship as a Type of Gender-neutral Entrepreneurship: Social Essence and Labor Potential

Abstract

Family entrepreneurship as a social phenomenon, as a type of employment and economic activity of the Russian family remains a poorly studied issue of sociological analysis and sociology of entrepreneurship. The author of this article guided by the principle of historical continuity analyzes the phenomenon of family entrepreneurship as a type of economic activity from the viewpoint of theoretical positions of J. Schumpeter, N. Kondratiev, F. Knight, F. Haiker and I. Kirzer. At the same time, the author synthesizes an economic approach with a sociological one on four theoretical and methodological grounds: family entrepreneurship as a social phenomenon of economic development; as a type of labor activity; as a form of group economic behavior of a small group and as a type of labor education of children, their integration into the economic activity of the family as a whole. From the conceptual standpoint of gender sociology and the new world order, family entrepreneurship is presented as a type of gender-neutral entrepreneurship in which all family members can participate, regardless of gender, but with varying degrees of involvement into the family business. The empirical data for the analysis is based on the results of applied sociological research of the Scientific School “Gender Economic Sociology” of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, on the one hand, and the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, on the other.