Science, Markets, Politics and the Place of Anthropology in the Discursive Field of Entrepreneurship.

Abstract

The argument of this article is that a universal, transcultural entrepreneurship concept should not reduce the term to the popular notion of legal business creation. Therefore, the paper first explores why talking about entrepreneurship has become so popular in recent years and which role anthropology as a discipline could or should play in the politics of the contemporary entrepreneurship discourse. Secondly, the problems of entrepreneurship as a multi-disciplinary field of research are presented and different disciplinary approaches to entrepreneurship are discussed. Finally, it is suggested that agency-driven innovation in relation to local surroundings should be the theoretical core of an anthropological entrepreneurship concept.