Ideology and the subjectification of the entrepreneurial self

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.