Conceptions of Social Enterprise and Social Entrepreneurship in Europe and the United States: Convergences and Divergences

• Published in: Journal of social entrepreneurship Vol. 1; no. 1; pp. 32 - 53
• Main Authors: Defourny, Jacques, Nyssens, Marthe
• Format: Journal Article Web Resource
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Routledge 01.03.2010; Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Business & economic sciences; Conceptual approaches; Convergence; Divergence; Economie sociale; Entrepreneurship; entreprise sociale; Europe; European Union; General management, entrepreneurship & organizational theory; Gestion de l’entreprise, entrepreneuriat & théorie des organisations; Governance; Historical analysis; International comparisons; Landscape; Sciences économiques & de gestion; Social economics; social economy; social enterprise; Social entrepreneurship; Socialist enterprises; Studies; U.S.A; United States; économie sociale; United States > US; Europe
• ISSN: 1942-0676; 1942-0684; 1942-0684
• DOI: 10.1080/19420670903442053

The concepts of social enterprise and social entrepreneurship are making amazing breakthroughs in EU countries and the United States. Until recently, the debates on both sides of the Atlantic have taken place in parallel trajectories with few connections among them. In the first part of the paper, we describe the European and US historical landscapes in which those concepts took root. In the second part, we analyse how the various conceptualizations have evolved. This analysis paves the way for the third part, in which we highlight the conceptual convergences and divergences among regions as well as within the US and European landscapes.