The State of Social Entrepreneurship in Selected European Union Countries

Abstract

Social entrepreneurs create value. Global problems such as poverty have been heightened by the economic crisis lately and continue to affect the lives of many people all over the world and bring a great deal of interest to the social economy. Social entrepreneurship is an important determinant of the social economy and describes a set of exceptional behaviors. This paper analyzes the notion, perception, and degree of social-economic development with an emphasis on social entrepreneurship in the selected countries of the European Union and Croatia. The analysis encompasses the concept and development of selected older members of the European Union and relies on post-socialist countries at the same time as the newest members of the European Union. By analyzing the facts it is trying to prove that the social economy and social entrepreneurship are more developed and more fragmented in the older and more developed countries of the European Union. Further evidence of this fact is the level of employment in the social economy in the European Union, where the postsocialist countries lag behind the more developed countries of the European Union.